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told the sorrowing disciples that their Lord had risen, and would go
before them into Galilee.
I saw that as Jesus looked upon the disappointed ones with the
deepest compassion, he sent his angels to direct their minds that they
might find him, and follow him where he was; that they might under-
stand that the earth is not the Sanctuary; that he must needs enter the
Most Holy place of the heavenly Sanctuary to cleanse it; to make a
special atonement for Israel, and to receive the kingdom of his Father,
and then return to earth and take them to dwell with him forever. The
disappointment of the disciples well represents the disappointment of
those who expected their Lord in 1844. I was carried back to the time
when Christ triumphantly rode into Jerusalem. The joyful disciples
believed that he was then to take the kingdom, and reign a temporal
prince. They followed their King with high hopes. They cut down the
beautiful palm branches, and took off their outer garments, and with
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enthusiastic zeal spread them in the way; and some went before, and
others followed crying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! The
excitement disturbed the Pharisees, and they wished Jesus to rebuke
his disciples. But he said unto them, If these should hold their peace,
the stones would immediately cry out. The prophecy of
Zechariah
9:9
, must be fulfilled, yet, I saw, the disciples were doomed to a bitter
disappointment. In a few days they followed Jesus to Calvary, and be-
held him bleeding and mangled upon the cruel cross. They witnessed
his agonizing death, and laid him in the tomb. Their hearts sunk with
grief. Their expectations were not realized in a single particular. Their
hopes died with Jesus. But as he arose from the dead, and appeared
to his sorrowing disciples, their hopes revived. They had lost their
Saviour; but again they had found him.
I saw that the disappointment of those who believed in the coming
of the Lord in 1844, was not equal to the disappointment of the disci-
ples. Prophecy was fulfilled in the first and second angels’ messages.
They were given at the right time, and accomplished the work God
designed they should.
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