God’s People Delivered
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the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him
not.”
Malachi 3:18
.
The enemies of God’s law, from the ministers down to the least
among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. Too late they
see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the
living God. Too late they see the true nature of their spurious sabbath
and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They
find that they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have
led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of
Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be known how
great is the responsibility of men in holy office and how terrible are the
results of their unfaithfulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate
the loss of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom
God shall say: Depart, thou wicked servant.
The voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day and
hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to His
people. Like peals of loudest thunder His words roll through the earth.
The Israel of God stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their
countenances are lighted up with His glory, and shine as did the face
of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The wicked cannot look
upon them. And when the blessing is pronounced on those who have
honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of
victory.
Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the
size of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and
which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of
God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they
gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more
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glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming
fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a
mighty conqueror. Not now a “Man of Sorrows,” to drink the bitter
cup of shame and woe, He comes, victor in heaven and earth, to judge
the living and the dead. “Faithful and True,” “in righteousness He
doth judge and make war.” And “the armies which were in heaven”
(
Revelation 19:11, 14
) follow Him. With anthems of celestial melody
the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way.
The firmament seems filled with radiant forms—“ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” No human pen can portray