The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 615
blotted out their sins. The number of His subjects is made up; “the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the
whole heaven,” is about to be given to the heirs of salvation, and Jesus is
to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
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has been at last withdrawn.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.
A single angel destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians and
filled the land with mourning. When David offended against God by
numbering the people, one angel caused that terrible destruction by
which his sin was punished. The same destructive power exercised by
holy angels when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when
He permits. There are forces now ready, and only waiting the divine
permission, to spread desolation everywhere.
Those who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing
judgments upon the world, and they will be regarded as the cause of the
fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among men
that are filling the earth with woe. The power attending the last warning
has enraged the wicked; their anger is kindled against all who
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