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The Lord Will Come More Quickly than Many Expect,
December 14
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him
day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they
get justice, and quickly.
Luke 18:7, 8
, NIV.
Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold companies of angels
that excel in strength stationed about those who have kept the word of Christ’s
patience. With sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their distress and
have heard their prayers. They are waiting the word of their Commander to snatch
them from their peril. But they must wait yet a little longer. The people of God
must drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism. The very delay, so painful
to them, is the best answer to their petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly
for the Lord to work they are led to exercise faith, hope, and patience, which have
been too little exercised during their religious experience. Yet for the elect’s sake
the time of trouble will be shortened....
Though a general decree has fixed the time when commandment keepers may
be put to death, their enemies will in some cases anticipate the decree, and before
the time specified, will endeavor to take their lives. But none can pass the mighty
guardians stationed about every faithful soul. Some are assailed in their flight from
the cities and villages; but the swords raised against them break and fall powerless
as a straw. Others are defended by angels in the form of men of war.
In all ages, God has wrought through holy angels for the succor and deliverance
of His people. Celestial beings have taken an active part in the affairs of men. They
have appeared clothed in garments that shone as the lightning; they have come as
men in the garb of wayfarers. Angels have appeared in human form to men of
God. They have rested, as if weary, under the oaks at noon. They have accepted
the hospitalities of human homes. They have acted as guides to benighted travelers.
They have, with their own hands, kindled the fires at the altar. They have opened
prison doors and set free the servants of the Lord. Clothed with the panoply of
heaven, they came to roll away the stone from the Saviour’s tomb.
In the form of men, angels are often in the assemblies of the righteous; and they
visit the assemblies of the wicked, as they went to Sodom, to make a record of their
deeds, to determine whether they have passed the boundary of God’s forbearance.
The Lord delights in mercy; and for the sake of a few who really serve Him, He
restrains calamities and prolongs the tranquility of multitudes. Little do sinners
against God realize that they are indebted for their own lives to the faithful few
whom they delight to ridicule and oppress.... (
The Great Controversy, 630-632
).
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