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Darkness Before Dawn
give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Great
hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their
work of destruction.
Verses 19, 21
. The proudest cities of the earth are
laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have
lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to
ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people,
who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free.
The Resurrection Hour
Graves are opened, and “many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth ... awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt.”
Daniel 12:2
. All who have died in the faith of
the third angel’s message come forth from the tomb glorified, to hear
God’s covenant of peace with those who have kept His law. “They also
which pierced Him” (
Revelation 1:7
), those that mocked and derided
Christ’s dying agonies, and the most violent opposers of His truth and
His people, are raised to behold Him in His glory and to see the honor
placed upon the loyal and obedient.
The Doom of the Wicked
Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and then breaks
through, appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah. Fierce lightnings
leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above
the terrific roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the
doom of the wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended by all;
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but they are distinctly understood by the false teachers. Those who a
little before were so reckless, so boastful and defiant, so exultant in
their cruelty to God’s commandment-keeping people, are now over-
whelmed with consternation and shuddering in fear. Their wails are
heard above the sound of the elements. Demons acknowledge the deity
of Christ and tremble before His power, while men are supplicating
for mercy and groveling in abject terror....
Through a rift in the clouds there beams a star whose brilliancy
is increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. It speaks hope
and joy to the faithful, but severity and wrath to the transgressors of
God’s law. Those who have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure,