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From Heaven With Love
Christ told His disciples how to escape the ruin to come on
Jerusalem: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,
then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which
are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the
midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereinto.” This warning was given to be heeded forty years after,
at the destruction of Jerusalem. The Christians obeyed the warning,
and not one perished in the fall of the city.
“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
Sabbath day,” Christ said. He who made the Sabbath did not abolish
it. The Sabbath was not rendered null and void by His death. Forty
years after His crucifixion it was still to be held sacred.
Dark Centuries of Persecution
From the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ passed on rapidly to
the last link in the chain of this earth’s history—the coming of the
Son of God in majesty and glory. Between these two events, there
lay open to Christ’s view long centuries of darkness, centuries for
His church marked with blood, tears, and agony. Jesus passed these
scenes by with a brief mention. “Then shall be great tribulation,” He
said, “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened,
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there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days
shall be shortened.”
For more than a thousand years, persecution such as the world
had never before known was to come upon Christ’s followers. Mil-
lions of His faithful witnesses were to be slain. Had not God’s hand
been stretched out to preserve His people, all would have perished.
Now, in unmistakable language, our Lord speaks of His second
coming: “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there;
believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect... . If they shall say unto
you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the
secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of
the east and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be.” From thousands of gatherings where men