The Lord is soon to come. Wickedness and rebellion, violence and crime, are filling the world. The cries of the suffering and the oppressed rise to God for justice. In the place of being softened by the patience and forbearance of God, the wicked are growing stronger in stubborn rebellion. The time in which we live is one of marked depravity. Religious restraint is thrown off, and men reject the law of God as unworthy of their attention. A more than common contempt is placed upon this holy law. David in his time saw the wickedness of the last days. He saw the law of God's kingdom trampled underfoot, and in righteous indignation he exclaimed, "It is time for Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law."
Men are now passing the boundary line, and the Lord is permitting the enemy to do his will. We hear of floods, of earthquakes, of storms by land and on the sea, blotting out hundreds of lives in a moment of time; but the end is not yet. The tread of the Lord will be heard upon the land and upon the water. For His own honor's sake, God is now about to repress iniquity. He will soon, very soon, vindicate the claims of His law.
The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in the word of truth. In the prophecy uttered when sentence from God was pronounced upon the last king of Israel, is given the message: "Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: . . . exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more. until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him."
The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms of Babylon, MedoPersia, Greece, and Rome. God says, "It shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him."
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."
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 realize 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, until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof ; . . . because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore bath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth." . . .
On Verge of Stupendous Crisis
To us who are standing on the very verge of the fulfillment of these great scenes, of what deep moment, of what living interest, are these delineations of the things to come—events for which, since our first parents turned their steps from Eden, God's children have watched and waited, longed and prayed !
At this time, before the great final crisis, as before the world's first destruction, men are absorbed in the pleasures and the pursuits of sense. Engrossed with the seen and the transitory, they have lost sight of the unseen and the eternal. For the things that perish with the using, they are sacrificing imperishable riches. Their minds need to be uplifted, their views of life broadened. They need to be aroused from the lethargy of worldly dreaming.
A moment of respite has been graciously given us of God. Every power lent us of heaven is to be used in doing the work assigned us by the Lord for those who are perishing in ignorance. The warning message is to be sounded in all parts of the world. There must be no delay. The truth must be proclaimed in the dark places of the earth. Obstacles must be met and surmounted. A great work is to be done, and this work has been entrusted to those who know the truth for this time.
Now is the time for us to lay hold of the arm of our strength. The prayer of David should be the prayer of pastors and laymen: "It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy law." Let the servants of God weep between the porch and the altar, crying, "Spare Thy people, 0 Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach." God has always wrought in behalf of His truth. The designs of wicked men, the enemies of the church, are subject to His power and His overruling providence. He can move upon the hearts of statesmen; the wrath of the haters of His truth and His people can be turned aside, even as the waters of a river could be turned, if thus He ordered it.
Prayer moves the arm of Omnipotence. He who marshals the stars in order in the heavens, whose word controls the waves of the great deep—the same infinite Creator will work in behalf of His people, if they will call upon Him in faith. He will restrain all the forces of darkness, until the warning is given to the world, and all who will heed it are prepared for His coming.
God's people should make mighty intercession to Him for help now, And they must put their whole energies into the effort to proclaim the truth during the respite that has been granted. As they consecrate themselves unreservedly to God's service, a convincing power will attend their efforts to present the truth to others, and light will shine into many hearts. My brethren and sisters, sleep no longer on Satan's enchanted ground, but arouse, and call into requisition every resource for the proclamation of the message of mercy. The last warning is to be given before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings!'
My heart is often burdened because so many who might work are doing nothing. They are the sport of Satan's temptations. Every church member who has a knowledge of the truth is expected to work while the day lasts ; for the night cometh, wherein no man can work. Erelong we shall understand what that night means. The Spirit of God is being grieved away from this earth. The nations are angry with one another. Widespread preparations are being made for war. The night is at hand. Let the church arouse and go forth to do her appointed work. Every believer, educated or uneducated, can bear the message.
Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be lifted. What are we doing, what are we thinking of, that we cling to our selfish love of ease, while all around us souls are perishing? Have our hearts become utterly callous? Can we not see and understand that we have a work to do in behalf of others?
My brethren and sisters, are you among those who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not? Is it in vain that God has given you a knowledge of His will? Is it in vain that He has sent you warning after warning of the nearness of the end? Do you believe the declarations of His Word concerning what is coming upon the world? Do you believe that God's judgments are hanging over the inhabitants of the earth ? How, then, can you sit at ease, careless and indifferent?— Ellen G. White in Review and Herald, Nov. 23, 1905.