The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 641

God’s people to profane His Sabbath. Now they are condemned by that
law which they have despised. With awful distinctness they see that they
are without excuse. They chose whom they would serve and worship.
“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” Malachi
3:18.
The enemies of God’s law, from the ministers down to the least
among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. Too late they see
that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God.
Too late they see the true nature of their spurious sabbath and the sandy
foundation upon which they have been building. They find that they have
been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition
while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise. Not until the
day of final accounts will it be known how great is the responsibility of
men in holy office and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness.
Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul. Fearful
will be the doom of him to whom God shall say: Depart, thou wicked
servant.
The voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day and hour
of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to His people.
Like peals of loudest thunder His words roll through the earth. The Israel
of God stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances
are lighted up with His glory, and shine as did the face of Moses when he
came down from Sinai. The wicked cannot look upon them. And when
the blessing is pronounced on those who have honored God by keeping
His Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory.
Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size
of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which
seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God
know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze
upon it as it

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