530
The Great Controversy 1888
firmament seems filled with radiant forms,—“ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands.” No human pen can portray
the scene, nor mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. “His
glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And
his brightness was as the light.” [
Habakkuk 3:3, 4
.] As the living cloud
comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of
thorns now mars that sacred head, but a diadem of glory rests on his
holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the
noonday sun. “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name
written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” [
Revelation 19:16
.]
Before his presence, “all faces are turned into paleness;” upon
the rejecters of God’s mercy falls the terror of eternal despair. “The
heart melteth, and the knees smite together,” “and the faces of them
all gather blackness.” [
Jeremiah 30:6
;
Nahum 2:10
.] The righteous
cry with trembling, “Who shall be able to stand?” The angels’ song
is hushed, and there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of
Jesus is heard, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.” The faces of
the righteous are lighted up, and joy fills every heart. And the angels
strike a note higher, and sing again, as they draw still nearer to the
earth.
The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming
fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles
before him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place.
“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour
[642]
before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall
call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his
people.” [
Psalm 50:3, 4
.]
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide
us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be
able to stand?” [
Revelation 6:15-17
.]
The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into silence.
The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, “with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood,” [
Isaiah 9:5
.] is stilled. Naught now is heard
but the voice of prayer and the sound of weeping and lamentation.