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No Probation After Christ Comes
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Many entertain the view that probation is granted after Jesus
leaves His work as mediator in the most holy apartment. This is
the sophistry of Satan. God tests and proves the world by the light
which He is pleased to give them previous to the coming of Christ.
Characters are then formed for life or death. But the probation of
those who choose to live a life of sin, and neglect the great salvation
offered, closes when Christ’s ministration ceases just previous to
His appearing in the clouds of heaven.
Those who love the world, and whose minds are carnal and at
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enmity with God, will flatter themselves that a period of probation
will be granted after Christ appears in the clouds of heaven. The
carnal heart, which is so averse to submission and obedience, will be
deceived with this pleasing view. Many will remain in carnal security
and continue in rebellion against God, flattering themselves that
there is then to be a period for repentance of sin and an opportunity
for them to accept the truth which now is unpopular and crossing
to their natural inclination and desires. When they have nothing to
venture, nothing to lose, by yielding obedience to Christ and the
truth, they think they will take their chance for salvation.
There are in the Scriptures some things which are hard to be
understood and which, according to the language of Peter, the un-
learned and unstable wrest unto their own destruction. We may
not, in this life, be able to explain the meaning of every passage of
Scripture; but there are no vital points of practical truth that will
be clouded in mystery. When the time shall come, in the provi-
dence of God, for the world to be tested upon the truth for that time,
minds will be exercised by His Spirit to search the Scriptures, even
with fasting and with prayer, until link after link is searched out and
united in a perfect chain. Every fact which immediately concerns
the salvation of souls will be made so clear that none need err or
walk in darkness.
As we have followed down the chain of prophecy, revealed truth
for our time has been clearly seen and explained. We are accountable
for the privileges that we enjoy and for the light that shines upon
our pathway. Those who lived in past generations were accountable
for the light which was permitted to shine upon them. Their minds
were exercised in regard to different points of Scripture which tested
them. But they did not understand the truths which we do. They