Come Quickly
 
        He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.  Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.  Revelation 22:20
 
    The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of His true followers.  The Saviour's parting promise upon Olivet, that He would come again, lighted up the future for His disciples, filling their hearts with joy and hope that sorrow could not quench nor trials dim.  Amid suffering and persecution, the "appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" was the "blessed hope."  When the Thessalonian Christians were fitted with grief as they buried their loved ones, who had hoped to live to witness the coming of the Lord, Paul, their teacher, pointed them to the resurrection, to take place at the Saviour's advent.  Then the dead in Christ should rise, and together with the living be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  "And so," he said, "shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
 
    On rocky Patmos the beloved disciples hears the promise, "Surely I come quickly," and his longing response voices the prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage, "even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). (The Great Controversy, 302)
 
Reflection:  Down through the ages comes this one great plea, "Come, Lord Jesus."  We wait with earnest expectation for the redemption of all things.  The most important question is, "Will I be ready?"  Today is the day of salvation.  Don't put it off!

The New Earth
 
        And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  Revelation 21:1
 
    The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth.  Every trace of the curse is swept away.  No eternally burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin.
 
    One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion.  Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought.  Says the prophets, beholding Christ in His glory: "He had bright beams coming out of His side: and there was the hiding of His power" (Habakkuk 3:4).  That pierced side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man to God--there is the Saviour's glory, there "the hiding of His power."  "Mighty to save," through the sacrifice of redemption, He was therefore strong to execute justice upon them that despised God's mercy.  And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power...
 
    All that was lost by sin has been restored.  "Thus saith the Lord...that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be established" (Isiah 45:18).  God's original purpose in the creation of the earth is fulfilled as it is made the eternal abode of the redeemed.  "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever" (Psalm 37:29). (The Great Controversy, 674) 
 
Reflection:  In the Earth made new will be the new capital of the universe, the New Jerusalem.  The tree of life will be there.  May each one of us be there!

 When the Millennium is Over    
 
        And they went up the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  Revelation 20:9
 
    He will marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner and through them endeavor to execute his plans.  The wicked are Satan's captives.  In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader.  They are ready to receive his suggestions and to do his bidding.  Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan.  He claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the world and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him.  He represent himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them forth from their graves and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel tyranny.  The presence of Christ having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims.  He makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own spirit and energy.  He proposes to lead them against the camp of the saints and to take possession of the City of God.  With fiendish exultation he points to the unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead and declares that as their leader he is well able to overthrow the city and regain his throne and his kingdom.  (The Great Controversy, 663)
 
Reflection:  The sentence of guilt is pronounced, and fire comes down from heaven and destroys the rebellion.

 The Millennium
 
        And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.  Revelation 20:1, 2
 
    The revelator foretells the banishment of Satan and the condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to be reduced, and he declares that this condition will exist for a thousand years.  After presenting the scenes of the Lord's second coming and the destruction of the wicked, the prophecy continues: "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit."...
 
    Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years.  Limited to the earth, he will no have access to other worlds to tempt and annoy those who have never fallen.  It is in this sense that he is bound: there are none remaining, upon whom he can exercise his power.  He is wholly cut off from the work of deception and ruin which for so many centuries has been his sole delight....
 
    For six thousand years, Satan's work of rebellion has "made the earth to tremble."  He had "made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof."  And he "opened not the house of his prisoners."  For six thousand years his prison house has received God's people, and he would have held them captive forever; but Christ had broken his bonds and set the prisoners free. (The Great Controversy, 658, 659)
 
Reflection:  There will have been six thousand years of sin, and now Satan must contemplate during the seventh millennium his work of deception.

 The Plagues
 
        And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.  Revelation 16:1
 
    God's judgments will be visited upon those who are seeking to oppress and destroy His people.  His long forbearance with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their punishment is nonetheless certain and terrible because it is long delayed....To our merciful God the act of punishment is a strange act.  "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11)....Yet He will "by no means clear the guilty."  "The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked" (Exodus 34:6, 7; Nahum 1:3).  By terrible things in righteousness He will vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law.  The severity of the retribution awaiting the transgressor may be judged by the Lord's reluctance to execute justice.  The nation with which He bears long, and which He will not smite until it has filled up the measure of its iniquity in God's account, will finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy.
 
    When Christ ceases His intercession in the sanctuary, the unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark (Revelation 14:9, 10), will be poured out.  The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God's people. (The Great Controversy, 627)
 
Reflection:  By condemning the innocent, the worshipers of the beast have condemned themselves.

The Third Angel's Message
 
        If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.  Revelation 14:9, 10
 
    The powers of earth, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will decree that "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond" (Revelation 13:16), shall conform to the customs of the church by the observance of the false sabbath.  All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil penalties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving of death.  On the other hand, the law of God enjoining the Creator's rest day demands obedience and threatens wrath against all who transgress its precepts.
 
    With the issue thus clearly brought before him, whoever shall trample upon God's law to obey a human enactment receives the mark of the beast; he accepts the sign of allegiance to the power which he chooses to obey instead of God....
 
    But not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience, and has been rejected.  There are many who have never had an opportunity to hear the special truths for this time.  The obligation of the fourth commandment has never been set before them in its true light....Everyone is to have sufficient light to make his decision intelligently. (The Great Controversy, 604, 605)
 
Reflection:  The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty.

The Second Angel's Message
 
        There followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.  Revelation 14:8
 
    The term "Babylon" is derived from "Babel," and signifies confusion.  It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion.  In Revelation 17 Babylon is represented as a woman--a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of a church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church, a vile woman an apostate church....
 
    The woman (Babylon) of Revelation 17 is described as "arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness:...and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots."  Says the prophet: "I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."  Babylon is further declared to be "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:4-6, 18).  The power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Christendom in Rome....
 
    Babylon is said to be "the mother of harlots."  By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world.  The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. (The Great Controversy, 382)
 
Reflection:  As the everlasting gospel and the Sabbath truth are proclaimed around the world, so too will be the message concerning the fall of these apostate religious institutions.

 First Angel's Message
 
        And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.  Revelation 14:6. 7
 
    To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, a great work of reform was to be accomplished.  God saw that many of his professed people were not building for eternity, and in His mercy He was about to send a message of warning to arouse them from their stupor and lead them to make ready for the coming of the Lord.
 
    This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14.  Here is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings and immediately followed by the coming of the Son of man to reap "the harvest of the earth."  The first of these warnings announces the approaching judgment. The prophet beheld an angel flying "in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (Revelation 14:6, 7). (The Great Controversy, 311)
 
Reflection:  This first angel's message is part of the everlasting gospel.  It is to go to the whole world.  It calls upon all to worship God as their Creator.  It points to the seventh-day Sabbath.

144,000
 
        And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.  Revelation 14:1
 
    In this world their minds were consecrated to God; they served Him with the intellect and with the heart; and now He can place His name "in their foreheads."  "And they shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:5).  They do not go in and out as those who beg a place.  They are of that number to whom Christ says, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."  He welcomes them as His children, saying, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:34, 21).
 
    These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth.  These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Revelation 14:4).  The vision of the prophet pictures them as standing on Mount Zion, girt for holy service, clothed in white lined, which is the righteousness of the saints.  But all who follow the Lamb in heaven must first have followed Him on earth, not fretfully or capriciously, but in trustful, loving, willing obedience, as the flock follows the shepherd.  
 
    I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne:...and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth....In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God" (Verse 2-5). (The Acts of the Apostles, 590, 591)
 
Reflection:  The 144,000 will pass through the great time of trouble, a time of trouble such never was since there was a nation; they have stood without an intercessor during the time of the seven last plagues.

 The First Beast
 
        And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.  Revelation 13:1
 
    These records of the past clearly reveal the enmity of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the means which she employs to honor the institution of her creating.  The word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated and Roman Catholics and Protestants shall unite for the exaltation of the Sunday.
 
    The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause "the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the papacy--there symbolized by the beast "like unto a leopard."  The beast with two horns is also to say "to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast," and, furthermore, it is to command all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:11-16).  It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United Sates shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy.  But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone.  The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed.  And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power.  "I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast" (Verse 3). (The Great Controversy, 578)
 
Reflection:  And the revelator declares, also referring to the papacy: "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life" (Revelation 13:8).