lives in the light of that law, that every secret thing that is out of harmony with that
holy law may be searched out and put away.
For that law does reach the most secret things, the very thoughts and intents
of the heart. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto
you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger
of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger
of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
Matt. 5:21, 22.
Therefore with all who accept this message in sincerity, the prayer will
constantly be, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my
thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting." Ps. 139:23, 24. Every one who prays thus, every one who thus
opens the life to God, and invites him in to search and see if there be any wicked
way there,–every such one will be prepared for the crisis of the judgment
whenever it may come. For then God will search the heart and purify the life, and
make it all that it must be to be holy before God. And every one who does this will
be led by the Lord in the way everlasting.
And why should it ever be otherwise? And of all times, now, in the hour of his
judgment, why should it ever be otherwise? For does not God see all the life
anyhow? Are not all things "naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do"? Can anything be hidden from him? Are not our secret sins set in
the light of his countenance? Ps. 90:8. Has he not searched us and known us?
Does he not know our very thought "afar off," long before we think it?
Since all this is true every moment of every life anyhow, what kind of person
must he be who will pass along day after day and year after year as if it were not
so at all? And since it is all true every moment of every life, and since we are now
in the time when it is especially true in the fact that the hour of his judgment is
come, what kind of person would he be who would professedly accept this
message that the hour of His judgment is come, and then would pass along a
single day as if it were not so?
No, no; no such thing as that can ever be, with the people of this judgment
message. It comes to them as the judgment message, they accept it as the
judgment message, and accordingly they enter hourly into the judgment. Since
he has set our secret sins in the light of his countenance, we ourselves will set
our secret sins in the light of his countenance. Since he has searched us and
known us, we will hourly say unto him, "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me." Since
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do,
we ourselves will constantly hold all things naked and opened unto the eyes of
him with whom we have to do.
Then God will occupy all the life, and will cleanse and purify it by his own
presence, making it a fit habitation for himself to dwell in. Then he will clothe us
with the garments of his own salvation, and will put upon us the robe of his own
righteousness. And then, when the crisis in the judgment as to each individual
comes, with Christ thus presenting us faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, the glad work will thrill each soul. He "is righteous, let hi be
righteous still." He "is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and
my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
Thank the Lord for such a precious message of faithful warning. Praise God
for such a glorious message of justification, sanctification, and redemption.
"The Millennium" Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 5 , pp. 72,
73.
WE have seen that at the coming of the Lord all the righteous dead are
raised, and all the righteous living are translated; and all, "together," are caught
away from the earth to meet the Lord: that all the wicked are slain upon the earth
by "the brightness of his coming" and the terrors of that great day. We have seen
that thus the earth is made desolate; and in this "land not inhabited," Satan,–
Azazel,–the antitype of the scapegoat, is cast out for the thousand years. This is
the Millennium on the earth.
But what of the righteous? What is their Millennium? Where are they during
this thousand years? As already stated, at the coming of the Lord and the
resurrection of the righteous, which is the beginning of the thousand years, all the
righteous are caught away from the earth, even as saith the scripture: "For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1
Thess. 4:16, 17.
Now, what next becomes of these? In his resurrection from the dead, Christ
was "the first fruits of them that slept." 1 Cor. 15:20. In connection with his
resurrection also "many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many." Matt. 27:50-53. This "multitude of captives" Jesus led when he ascended
up on high. Eph. 4:8, margin. In this resurrection of the saints he "spoiled" the
"principalities and powers" that were at enmity with God. And when he led these
saints "up on high," this was his triumph over these principalities and powers.
Col. 2:15.
This resurrection of Christ and the saints was the antitype of the wave offering
of "the first fruits" of the harvest, which, annually, on the sixteenth day of the first
month, was waved before the Lord. Lev. 23:10-12. That wave sheaf of the first
fruits offered to the Lord was a sample of the whole harvest. Accordingly, Christ
and these saints rising fro the dead, "the first fruits of them that slept," as the
antitype of that wave sheaf of the first fruits in the Levitical law, were a sample of
the whole harvest of saints that should be gathered from all the earth, in all ages.
As with these, so with all the others. And as these ascended up on high with
Christ when he ascended, so will all the other saints from this world ascend up
on high with Christ when he ascends again.
Those who ascended to heaven with Jesus in triumph, after his resurrection,
were seen by John in heaven. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art
