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comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying, “It is
done.”
That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty
earthquake. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory
from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains
shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on
every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed
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into fury. There is heard the shriek of the hurricane, like the voice of
demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and
swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very
foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking.
Inhabited islands disappear with their living freight. The seaports
that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by
the angry waters. Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of a
talent,” [Revelation 16:21.] are doing their work of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The costly 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.
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 faith under 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,” 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.
Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and then breaks
through, appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah. Fierce light-
nings leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of flame. [455]
Above the terrific roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful,
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declare the doom of the wicked. The words spoken are not compre-
hended by all; but they are distinctly understood by the false watch-
men. 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 overwhelmed with consternation, and shuddering in
fear. Their wails are heard above the sound of the elements. Demons
acknowledge the divinity of Christ, and tremble before his power,
while men are supplicating for mercy, and groveling in abject terror.
Said the prophets of old as they beheld in holy vision the day of
God: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of
the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “And the Lord shall utter his
voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that
executeth his word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
and who can abide it?” [Joel 2:1, 11.] “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.”
[Isaiah 13:6.] “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man
shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the
Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and
upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” [Isaiah
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2:10-12.] “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to
the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into
the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory
of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” [Isaiah
2:20, 21.]
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, hidden as in the secret of the Lord’s pavilion. They have
been tested, and before the world and the despisers of truth they
have evinced their fidelity to Him who died for them. A marvelous
change has come over those who have held fast their integrity in the
very face of death. They have been suddenly delivered from the dark
and terrible tyra
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lately pale, anxious, and haggard, are now aglow with wonder, faith,
and love. Their voices rise in triumphant song: “God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we
fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and
the troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”
[Psalm 46:1-3.]
While these words of holy trust ascend to God, the clouds sweep
back, and the starry heavens are seen, unspeakably glorious in con-
trast with the black and angry firmament on either side. The glory of
Heaven is beaming from the gates ajar. Then there appears against
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the sky a hand holding two tables of stone folded together. The
hand opens the tables, and there are revealed the precepts of the
decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words are so plain that
all can read them. Memory is aroused, the darkness of superstition
and heresy is swept from every mind, and God’s ten words, brief,
comprehensive, and authoritative, are presented to the view of all
the inhabitants of earth. Wonderful code! wonderful occasion!
It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who
have trampled upon God’s holy requirements. The Lord gave them
his law; they might have compared their characters with it, and
learned their defects while yet there was opportunity for repentance
and reform; but in order to secure the favor of the world, they set
aside its precepts and taught others to transgress. They have en-
deavored to compel God’s people to profane his Sabbath. Now they
are condemned by that law which they have despised. With awful
distinctness they see that they are without excuse. They chose whom
they would serve and worship. “Then shall ye return, and discern
between the righteous and 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