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40 - God's People Delivered - The Great Controversy · Sacred Texts Archive

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Chapter forty, God's people delivered. When the protection of human laws shall be
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withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be in different
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lands a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree
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draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It
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will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow which shall utterly silence
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the voice of descent and reproof the people of God. Some in prison cells,
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some hidden in solitary retreats, in the forests and the mountains still plead
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for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on
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by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. It
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is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel
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will interpose for the deliverance of his chosen saith. The Lord Ye shall have
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a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness
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of heart, as when one goeth to come into the mountain of Jehovah to
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the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to
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be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the
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indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with
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scattering and tempest, and hailstones, with shouts of triumph, jeering and imprecation.
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Throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey when low,
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a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the
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earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory from the throne of God,
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spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company. The angry multitudes
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are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away, the objects of their murderous
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rage are forgotten. With fearful forebodings, they gaze upon the symbol of God's
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covenant and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness by the people of God.
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A voice, clear and melodious is heard, saying, look up,
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and lifting their eyes to the heavens, they behold the bow of Promise.
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The black, angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and like Stephen,
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they look up steadfastly into heaven and see the glory of God and the
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Son of Man seated upon his throne in his divine form, they discern the
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marks of his humiliation, and from his lips they hear the request presented before
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his Father and the holy angels. I will that they also, whom thou
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hast given me, be with me where I am again. A voice,
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musical and triumphant is heard, saying, they come. They come, wholly,
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harmless and undefiled. They have kept the word of my patience. They
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shall walk among the angels, and the pale, quivering lips of those who
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have held fast their faith utter a shout of victory. It is at midnight
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that God manifests his power for the deliverance of his people. The sun appears,
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shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The
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wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with
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solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of
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its course. The streams cease to flow, dark heavy clouds come up and
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clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear
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space of indescribable glory. Whence comes the voice of God, like the sound
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of many waters, saying it is done. That voice shakes the heavens and
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the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, such as was not since men
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were upon the earth. So mighty an earthquake, and so great the firmament
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appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing
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through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks
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are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest.
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The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of the
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hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole
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earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea, its surfaces breaking up.
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Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking,
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Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like sodom for wickedness are swallowed
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up by the angry waters. Babylon, the Great has come in remembrance before
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God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his
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wrath. Great hailstones, every one about the weight of a talent are doing
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their work of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low.
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The lordly palaces upon which the world's great men have lavished their wealth in order
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to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are
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rent asunder, and God's people, who have been held in bondage for their
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faith are set free. Graves are opened, and many of them that sleep
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in the dust of the earth awake, some to everlasting life and some to
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shame and everlasting contempt. All who have died in the faith of the Third
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Angel's message come forth the tomb glorified to hear God's covenant of peace with those
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who have kept his law. They also which pierced him, those that mocked
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and derided Christ's dying agonies, and the most violent opposers of his truth and
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his people are raised to behold Him in his glory and to see the honor
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placed upon the loyal and obedient. Thick clouds still cover the sky, yet
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the sun now and then breaks through, appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah.
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Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of
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flame. Above the terrific roar of thunder voices, mysterious and awful, declare
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the doom of the wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended by all,
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but they are distinctly understood by the false teachers. Those who a little before
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were so reckless, so boastful, and defiant, so exultant in their cruelty
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to God's commandment keeping people are now overwhelmed with consternation and shuddering in fear.
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Their wails are heard above the sound of the elements. Demons acknowledge the deity
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of Christ and tremble before his power, while men are supplicating for mercy and
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groveling in abject terror. Set the prophets of old as they beheld in holy
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vision. The Day of God, how ye, for the day of the
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Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
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Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the
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Lord and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall
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be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the
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Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord
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of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon
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every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. In
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that day a man shall cast the idols of his silver and the idols of
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his gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, to
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the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks,
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and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the load,
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and for the glory of his majesty. When he ariseth to shake terribly
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the earth, through a rift in the clouds, there beams a star whose
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brilliancy is increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. It speaks hope and joy
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to the faithful, but severity and wrath to the transgressors of God's law.
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Those who have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure hidden as in the secret
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of the Lord's pavilion. They have been tested, and before the world and
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the despisers of truth, they have evinced their fidelity to Him who died for
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them. A marvelous change has come over those who have held fast their integrity
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in the very face of death. They have been suddenly delivered from the dark
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and terrible tyranny of men, transformed to demons. Their faces so lately pale,
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anxious, and haggard, are now aglow with wonder, faith and love.
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Their voices rise in triumphant song. God is our refuge and strength,
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of very present help and trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though
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the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of
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the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
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shake with the swelling thereof. While these words of holy trust ascend to God,
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the clouds sweep back, and the starry heavens are seen unspeakably glorious,
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in contrast with the black and angry firmament on either side. The glory of
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the celestial city streams from the gates Ajar. Then there appears against the sky
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a hand holding two tables of stone folded together, says the prophet, the
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heavens shall declare his righteousness, For God is judge himself. That holy law,
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God's righteousness, that amid thunder and flame, was proclaimed from Sinai as
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a guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment.
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The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts of the
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Decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words are so plain
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that all can read them. Memory is aroused, the darkness of superstition and
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heresy as swept from every mind, and God's ten words, brief, comprehensive,
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and authoritative, are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the
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earth. It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have
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trampled upon God's holy requirements. The Lord gave them his law. They might
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have compared their characters with it and learned their defects while there was yet opportunity
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for repentance and reform. But in order to secure the favor of the world,
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they set aside its precepts and taught others to transgress. They have endeavored
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to compel God's people to profane his Sabbath. Now they are condemned by that
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law which they have despised. With awful distinctness. They see that they are
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without excuse. They chose whom they would serve in worship. Then shall you
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return and descern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God
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and him that serveth Him. Not the enemies of God's love law. From
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the ministers down to the least among them have a new conception of truth and
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duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment is the
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seal of the Living God. Too late they see the true nature of their
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spurious sabbath and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They find
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that they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition
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while professing to guide them to the gates of paradise. Not until the day
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of final accounts will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in
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holy office, and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness. Only an
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eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul. Fearful will be
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the doom of him to whom God shall say, depart, thou, wicked
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servant. The voice of God is heard from Heaven, declaring the day and
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hour of Jesus coming and delivering the everlasting Covenant to his people. Like peals
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of loudest thunder, his words roll through the earth. The Israel of God
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stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances are lighted up with
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His glory. And shine, as did the face of Moses when he came
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down from Sinai. The wicked cannot look upon them. And when the blessing
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is pronounced on those who have honored God by keeping his Sabbath holy, there
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is a mighty shout of victory. Soon there appears in the east a small
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black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the
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cloud which surrounds the Savior, and which seems in the distance to be shrouded
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in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the
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Son of Man. In solemn silence. They gaze upon it as it draws
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nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great
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white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the
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rainbow of the Covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror, not now
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a man of sorrows to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe. He
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comes victor in heaven and earth, to the living and the dead. Faithful
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and true in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. And the armies
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which were in heaven follow him with anthems of celestial melody. The Holy angels,
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a vast, unnumbered throng attend him on his way. The firmament seems
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filled with radiant forms ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. No
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human pen can portray the scene. No mortal mind is adequate to conceive its
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splendor. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his
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praise, and his brightness was as the light. As the living cloud comes
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still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns
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now mars that sacred head, but a diadem of glory rests on his holy
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brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. And he
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hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and
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Lord of lords. Before his present, since all faces are turned into paleness,
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upon the rejectors of God's mercy, falls the terror of eternal despair.
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The heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and the faces of them
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all gather blackness. The righteous cry with trembling, who shall be able to
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stand? The angel's song is hushed, and there is a period of awful
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silence. Then the voice of Jesus has heard, saying, my grace is
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sufficient for you. The faces of the righteous are lighted up, and joy
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fills every heart, and the angels strike a note higher and sing again.
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As they draw still nearer to the earth, the King of Kings descends upon
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the cloud, wrapt in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a
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scroll. The earth trembles before him, and every mountain and island is moved
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out of its place. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence.
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A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about
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him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth,
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that he may judge his people. And the kings of the earth, and
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the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and
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the mighty men, and every bond men and every freeman hid themselves in the
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dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and
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rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that
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sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb. For the
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great day of his wrath is come, And who shall be able to stand.
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The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into silence. The
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clash of arms, the tumult of battle, with confused noise and garments rolled
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in blood, is stilled. Nought now is heard but the voice of prayer,
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and the sound of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth from lips
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so lately scoffing. The great day of his wrath is come. And who
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shall be able to stand, though wicked prey to be buried beneath the rocks
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of the mountains, rather than meet the face of him whom they have despised
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and rejected. That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead. They know,
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how often have its plaintive, tender tones called them to repentance. How
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often has it been heard in the touching entreaties of a friend, a brother,
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a redeemer to the rejectors of his grace. No other could be so
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full of condemnation, so burdened with denunciation as that voice which is so long
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pleaded, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways? For why will
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ye die? Oh? That it were to them the voice of a stranger,
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says Jesus, I have called and ye refused. I have stretched out
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my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have said it not all
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my counsel, and would none of my reproof. That voice awakens memories which
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they would fain blot out, warnings, despised invitations, refused, privileges slighted.
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There are those who mocked Christ in his humiliation. With thrilling power,
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come to their minds the sufferer's words. When adjured by the high priest,
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he solemnly declared, hereafter shall ye see the son of Man sitting on the
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right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Now they
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behold him in his glory, and they are yet to see him sitting on
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the right hand of power. Those who derided his claim to be the son
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of God are speechless. Now there is the haughty herod who jeered at his
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royal title and bade the mocking soldiers crown him king. There are the very
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men who with him pious hands placed upon his form, the purple robe,
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upon his sacred brow, the thorny crown, and in his unresisting hand.
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The men except and bowed before him in blasphemous mockery. The men who smote
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and spit upon the Prince of life. Now turn from his piercing gaze and
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seek to flee from the overpowering glory of his presence. Those who drove the
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nails through his hands and feet, the soldier who pierced his side, behold
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these marks with terror and remorse. With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall
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the events of cavalry with shuddering horror. They remember how, wagging their heads
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in satanic exultation, they exclaimed, he saved others himself he cannot save if
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he be the King of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross,
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and we will believe him he trusted in God. Let him deliver him
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now, if he will have him. Vividly they recall the Saviour's parable of
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the husbandmen who refused to render to their lord, the fruit of the vineyard,
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who abused his servants and slew his son. They remember too, the
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sentence which they themselves pronounced. The Lord of the Vineyard will miserably destroy those
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wicked men. In the sin and punishment of those unfaithful men, the priests
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and elders see their own course and their own just doom. And now there
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rise is a cry of mortal agony. Louder than the shout Crucify Him,
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Crucify Him, which rang through the streets of Jerusalem, swells the awful,
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despairing wail. He is the son of God, He is the true Messiah.
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They seek to flee from the presence of the King of kings. In
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the deep caverns of the earth, rent asunder by the warring of the elements,
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they vainly attempt to hide in the lives of all who reject truth.
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There are moments when conscience awakens, when memory presents the torturing recollection of a
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life of hypocrisy, and the soul is harassed with vain regrets. But what
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are these compared with the remorse of that day? When fear cometh as desolation,
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when destruction cometh as a whrowind, those who would have destroyed Christ and
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his faithful people now witness the glory which rests upon them. In the midst
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of their terror, they hear the voices of the saints in joyful strains,
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exclaiming, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for him,
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and he will save us. Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash
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of lightning and the roar of thunder. The voice of the Son of God
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calls forth the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the righteous.
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Then, raising his hands to heaven, he cries, Awake, Awake,
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Awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise. Throughout the length
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and breadth of the earth. The dead shall hear that voice, and they
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that here shall live, and the whole earth shall ring with the tread of
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the exceeding great army of every nation, kindred, tongue and people. From
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the prison house of death. They come, clothed with immortal glory, crying,
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O death, where is thy sting O grave? Where is thy victory?
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And the living Righteous and the risen saints unite their voices in a long,
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glad shout of victory. All come forth from their graves, the same
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in stature as when they entered the tomb. Adam, who stands among the
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risen throng, is of lofty height and majestic form in stature, but little
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below the Son of God. He presents a marked contrast to the people of
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later generations. In this one respect is shown the great degeneracy of the race.
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But all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. In the
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beginn man was created in the likeness of God, not only in character,
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but in form and feature. Sin deffaced and almost obliterated the divine image.
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But Christ came to restore that which had been lost. He will change our
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vile bodies and fashion them likened to His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible
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form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful,
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and immortal. All blemishes and deformities are left in the grave, restored
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to the tree of life in the long lost Eden, the redeemed will grow
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up to the full stature of the race in its primeval glory. The last
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lingering traces of the curse of sin will be removed, and Christ's faithful ones
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will appear in the beauty of the Lord, our God, in mind and
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soul and body, reflecting the perfect image of their Lord. Oh wonderful redemption.
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Long talked of, long hoped for, contemplated with eager anticipation, but
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never fully understood. The living righteous are changed in a moment, in the
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twinkling of an eye at the voice of God. They were glorified. Now
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they are made immortal, and with the risen saints are caught up to meet
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their Lord. In the air, Angels gather together the elect from the four
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winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Little children are borne
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by holy angels to their mother's arms. Friends long separated by death are united
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never more to part, and with songs of gladness, ascend together to the
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City of God. On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and
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beneath it our living wheels. And as the chariot rolls upward, the wheels
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cry wholly, and the wings, as they move, cry holly. And
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the retinue of angels cry Holly, Holy, Holy Lord, God Almighty,
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and the Redeemed shout Allelujah. As the chariot moves on or toward the New
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Jerusalem. Before entering the City of God, the Savior bestows upon his followers
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the emblems of victory and invests them with the insignia of their royal state.
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The glittering ranks are drawn up in the form of a hollow square about their
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King, whose form rises in majesty high above saint and Angel, whose countenance
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beams upon them full of benignant love. Throughout the unnumbered host of the Redeemed.
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Every glance is fixed upon him. Every eye beholds his glory, whose
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visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the
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sons of men. Upon the heads of the overcomers, Jesus, with his
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own right hand places the crown of glory. For each there is a crown
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bearing his own new name, and the inscription holiness to the Lord. In
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every hand are placed the victor's palm and the shining harp. Then, as
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the commanding angels strike the note, every hand sweeps the harp strings with skillful
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touch, awaking sweet music and rich melodious strains rapture unutterable thrills. Every heart
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and each voice is raised in grateful praise. Unto Him that loved us and
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washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings
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and priests. Unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion forever
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and ever. Before the ransomed throng is the Holy City. Jesus opens wide
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the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the truth enter in.
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There they behold the Paradise of God, the home of Adam. In his
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innocency. Then that voice, richer than any music that ever fell on mortal
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ear, is heard, saying your conflict is ended. Come, ye,
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blessed of my Father inherit. The kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
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the world now is fulfilled. The Saviour's prayer for his disciples, I will
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that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am
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faultless before the presence of His glory. With exceeding joy, Christ presents to
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the Father the purchase of his blood, declaring, here am I and the
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children whom thou hast given me, those that thou gavest me I have kept.
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Oh, the wonders of redeeming love. The rapture of the hour when
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the infinite Father, looking upon the ransom, shall behold his image, sins
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discord banished, its blight removed, and the human once more in harmony with
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the Divine. With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes his faithful ones to the joy
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of their Lord. The Saviour's joy is in seeing in the Kingdom of Glory
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the souls that have been saved by his agony and humiliation, and the redeemed
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will be shares in His joy. As they behold among the blessed those who
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have been won to Christ through their prayers, their labors, and their loving
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sacrifice. As they gather about the great White Throne, gladness unspeakable will fill
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their hearts when they behold those whom they have won for Christ, and see
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that one has gained others, and these still others, all brought into the
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haven of Rest, there to lay their crowns at Jesus feet and praise Him
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through the endless cycles of eternity. As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the
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City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration.
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The two atoms are about to meet. The Son of God is standing
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with outstretched arms to receive the Father of our race, the being whom he
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created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of
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the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam diserns the Prince of
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the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord,
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but in humiliation, casts himself at his feet, crying worthy worthy is the
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lamb that was slain tenderly the Savior lifts him up and bids him luck once
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more upon the Eden, home from which he has so long been exiled.
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After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was filled with sorrow.
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Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice, every blight upon the fair face
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of nature, every stain upon man's purity was a fresh reminder of his sin.
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Terrible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity of bounding, and
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in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon himself the cause of
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sin. With patient humility, he bore for nearly a thousand years the penalty
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of transgression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits
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of the promised Savior. And he died in the hope of a resurrection.
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The Son of God redeemed man's failure and fall. And now, through the
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work of the Atonement, Adam is reinstated in his first dominion. Transported with
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joy, he beholds the trees that were once his delight, the very trees
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whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence. And joy.
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He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers
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that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the
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scene. He comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than
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when he was banished from it. The Savior leads him to the Tree of
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Life and plucks the glorious fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him
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and beholds a multitude of his family, redeemed, standing in the paradise of
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God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of Jesus, and,
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falling upon his breast, embraces the Redeemer. He touches the golden harp,
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and the vaults of heaven echo the triumphant song. Worthy, Worthy,
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Worthy is the lamb that was slain and lives again. The family of Adam
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take up the strain and casts their crowns at the Saviour's feet as they bow
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before him in adoration. This reunion is witnessed by the angels, who wept
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at the fall of Adam and rejoiced when Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended
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to Heaven, having opened the grave for all who should believe on his name.
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Now they behold the work of redemption accomplished. And they unite their voices
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in the song of praise upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea
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of glass, as it were mingled with fire, so resplendent is it.
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With the glory of God. Are gathered the company that have gotten the victory
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over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and
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over the number of his name, with the Lamb, upon Mount Zion,
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having the harps of God, they stand the hundred and forty and four thousand
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that were redeemed from among men. And there is heard, as the sound
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of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, the voice
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of harpers, harping with their harps, and they sang a new song before
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the throne, a song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty
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and four thousand. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb, a
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song of deliverance. None but the hundred and forty four thousand can learn that
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song, for it is the song of their experience, an experience such as
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no other company have ever had. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
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he goeth. These, having been translated from the earth from among the living,
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are counted as the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. These
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are they which came out of great tribulation. They have passed through the time
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of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. They have endured
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the anguish of the time of Jacob's trouble. They have stood without an intercessor
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through the final outpouring of God's judgments. But they have been delivered, for
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they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
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In their mouth was found no guile, For they are without fault before
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God. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day
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and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
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among them. They have seen the earth wasted with famine and pestilence, the
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sun having power to scorch men with great heat. And they themselves have endured
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suffering, hunger and thirst. But they shall hunger no more, neither thirst
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any more. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
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For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed
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them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe
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away all tears from their eyes. In all ages, the saviors chosen have
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been educated and disciplined in the school of trial. They walked in narrow paths
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on earth. They were purified in the furnace of affliction. For jesus sake,
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they endured opposition, hatred, calumny. They followed him through conflicts sore.
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They endured self denial and experienced bitter disappointments. By their own painful experience,
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they learned the evil of sin, its power, its guilt, its
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woe, and they look upon it with abhorrence. A sense of the infinite
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sacrifice made for its cure humbles them in their own sight and fills their hearts
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with gratitude and praise, which those who have never fallen cannot appreciate. They
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love much because they have been forgiven much, Having been partakers of Christ's sufferings,
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they are fitted to be partakers with him of his glory. The heirs
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of God have come from garrets, from hovels, from dungeons, from scaffolds,
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from mountains, from deserts, from the caves of the earth, from
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the caverns of the sea. On earth, they were destitute, afflicted,
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tormented. Millions went down to the grave, loaded with infamy. Because they
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steadfastly refused to yield to the deceptive claims of Satan. By human tribunals,
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they were adjudged the vilest of criminals. But now God is judge himself.
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Now the decisions of earth are reversed. The rebuke of his people shall he
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take away. They shall call them the Holy People, the redeemed of the
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Lord. He hath appointed to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil
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of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
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They are no longer feeble, afflicted, scattered and oppressed. Henceforth they are
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to be ever with the Lord. They stand before the throne, clad in
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richer robes than the most honored of the earth have ever worn. They are
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crowned with diadems more glorious than were ever placed upon the brow of earthly monarchs.
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The days of pain and weeping are forever ended. The King of Glory
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has wiped the tears from all faces. Every cause of grief has been removed.
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Amid the waving of palm branches, they pour forth a song of praise,
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clear, sweet and harmonious. Every boy takes up the strain until the
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anthem swells through the vaults of heaven, Salvation to our God, which sitteth
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upon the throne and unto the lamb, and all the inhabitants of heaven respond
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in the inscription Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
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power and might be unto our God forever and ever. In this life we
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can only begin to understand the wonderful theme of redemption. With our finite comprehension,
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we may consider most earnestly the shame and the glory, the life and
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the death, the justice and the mercy that meet in the Cross. Yet
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with the utmost stretch of our mental powers we fail to grasp its full significance.
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The length and the breadth, the depth and the height of redeeming love
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are but dimly comprehended. The plan of redemption will not be fully understood even
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when the ransoms see as they are seen and know as they are known.
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But through the eternal ages, new truth will continually unfold to the wondering and
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delay delighted mind. Though the griefs and pains and temptations of earth are ended
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and the cause removed, the people of God will ever have a distinct,
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intelligent knowledge of what their salvation has cost. The cross of Christ will be
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the science and the song of the Redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified,
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they will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that he whose
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power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the
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Beloved of God, the majesty of Heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph
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delighted to adore, humbled himself to uplift fallen man, that he bore the
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guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of his Father's face, till
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the woes of a lost world broke his heart and crushed out his life on
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Calvary's Cross, that the maker of all worlds, the arbiter of all destinies,
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should lay aside his glory and humiliate himself. From love to man will
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ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe, as the nations of the
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saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the Father shining in
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his countenance, as they behold his throne, which is from everlasting to everlasting,
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and know that his kingdom is to have no end. They break forth
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in rapturous song. Worthy. Worthy is the lamb that was slain and hath
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redeemed us to God by his own most precious blood. The mystery of the
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Cross explains all other mysteries. In the light that streams from Calvary, the
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attributes of God, which had filled us with fear and awe, appear beautiful
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and attractive. Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to blend with
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holiness, justice, and power. While we behold the majesty of his throne
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high and lifted up, we see his character in its gracious manifestations, and
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comprehend us never before the significance of that endearing title, our Father. It
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will be seen that He who is infinite in wisdom, could devise no plan
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for for our salvation except the sacrifice of his son. The compensation for this
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sacrifice is the joy of peopling the earth with ransomed beings wholly happy and immortal.
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The result of the Saviour's conflict with the powers of darkness is joy to
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the Redeemed, redounding to the glory of God throughout eternity, and such is
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the value of the soul. That the Father is satisfied with the price paid,
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and Christ himself beholding the fruits of his great sacrifice, is satisfied.
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End of chapter forty