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The Great Controversy
When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers of
Christ will be ready for His appearing. “Then shall the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
and as in former years.”
Malachi 3:4
. Then the church which our Lord
at His coming is to receive to Himself will be a “glorious church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.”
Ephesians 5:27
. Then she
will look “forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an army with banners.”
Song of Solomon 6:10
.
Besides the coming of the Lord to His temple, Malachi also fore-
tells His second advent, His coming for the execution of the judgment,
in these words: “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will
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be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and
against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his
wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger
from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 3:5
.
Jude refers to the same scene when he says, “Behold, the Lord cometh
with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to
convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds.”
Jude 14, 15
. This coming, and the coming of the Lord to His temple,
are distinct and separate events.
The coming of Christ as our high priest to the most holy place,
for the cleansing of the sanctuary, brought to view in
Daniel 8:14
; the
coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of Days, as presented in
Daniel 7:13
; and the coming of the Lord to His temple, foretold by
Malachi, are descriptions of the same event; and this is also represented
by the coming of the bridegroom to the marriage, described by Christ
in the parable of the ten virgins, of
Matthew 25
.
In the summer and autumn of 1844 the proclamation, “Behold, the
Bridegroom cometh,” was given. The two classes represented by the
wise and foolish virgins were then developed—one class who looked
with joy to the Lord’s appearing, and who had been diligently preparing
to meet Him; another class that, influenced by fear and acting from
impulse, had been satisfied with a theory of the truth, but were destitute
of the grace of God. In the parable, when the bridegroom came, “they
that were ready went in with him to the marriage.” The coming of the
bridegroom, here brought to view, takes place before the marriage. The
marriage represents the reception by Christ of His kingdom. The Holy
City, the New Jerusalem, which is the capital and representative of