Chapter 18—Preparation for the End
May 14, 1851, I saw the beauty and loveliness of Jesus. As I
beheld His glory, the thought did not occur to me that I should ever
be separated from His presence. I saw a light coming from the glory
that encircled the Father, and as it approached near to me, my body
trembled and shook like a leaf. I thought that if it should come near
me I would be struck out of existence; but the light passed me. Then
could I have some sense of the great and terrible God with whom we
have to do. I saw then what faint views some have of the holiness of
God, and how much they take His holy and reverend name in vain,
without realizing that it is God, the great and terrible God, of whom
they are speaking. While praying, many use careless and irreverent
expressions, which grieve the tender Spirit of the Lord, and cause their
petitions to be shut out of heaven.
I also saw that many do not realize what they must be in order
to live in the sight of the Lord without a high priest in the sanctuary,
through the time of trouble. Those who receive the seal of the living
God, and are protected in the time of trouble, must reflect the image
of Jesus fully.
I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful, and
were looking to the time of “refreshing” and the “latter rain” to fit them
to stand in the day of the Lord, and to live in His sight. Oh, how many
I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the
needful preparation, therefore they could not receive the refreshing
that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God.
Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets, and fail to purify
their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe
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that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the
time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be
hewed and squared for the building. But there will be no time then to
do it and no Mediator to plead their cause before the Father. Before
this time the awfully solemn declaration has gone forth, “He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
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