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light “like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal.” [Revelation 21:11.] Saith the Lord, “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people.” [Isaiah 65:19.] “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
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his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God,
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
Controversy Ended
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any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” [Revelation
21:3, 4.]
In the city of God “there shall be no night.” None will need or
desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing the will of God
and offering praise to his name. We shall ever feel the freshness of
the morning, and shall ever be far from its close. “And they need
no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them
light.” [Revelation 22:5.] The light of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which immeasurably
surpasses the brightness of our noontide. The glory of God and the
Lamb floods the holy city with unfading light. The redeemed walk
in the sunless glory of perpetual day.
“I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it.” [Revelation 21:22.] The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and the Son.
Now we “see through a glass, darkly.” [1 Corinthians 13:12.] We behold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of
nature and in his dealings with men; but then we shall see him face
to face, without a dimming vail between. We shall stand in his
presence, and gaze upon the glory of his countenance.
There, immortal minds will study with never-failing delight the
wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There
is no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every
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faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquire-
ment of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies.
There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest
aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there
will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new
truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind
and soul and body.
And as the years of eternity roll, they will bring richer and more
glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progres-
sive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men
learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of his character. As
Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing
achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the
ransomed beat with a stronger devotion, and they sweep the harps
of gold with a firmer hand; and ten thousand times ten thousand and
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thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus
of praise.
“And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,
heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and
ever.”
Sin and si
the great controversy is forever ended.
Appendix
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Note 1. Page 206.—William Miller’s views as to the exact time
of the second advent were based on the prophecy of Daniel 8:14:
“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed.” That a day in symbolic prophecy represents a year,
see Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6. As the period of 2300 prophetic days, or literal years, extended far beyond the close of the Jewish
dispensation, it could not refer to the sanctuary of that dispensation.
Mr. Miller held the generally received view that in the Christian age
the Earth is the sanctuary, and hence concluded that the cleansing
of the sanctuary brought to view in Daniel 8:14 represented the purification of the earth by fire at the second coming of Christ. The
point from which to reckon the 2300 days is found in Daniel 9:24-27,
which is an explanation of the vision of chapter 8. It is stated that 70
weeks, or 490 years, are determined, literally, cut off, as specially
pertaining to the Jews. The only period from which the 70 weeks
could be cut off is the 2300 days, that being the only period of time
mentioned in the vision of chapter 8. The 70 weeks must therefore
be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods must begin together.
The 70 weeks are declared by the angel to date from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If, then, we can
correctly locate this commandment, we have the starting-point for
the great period of the 2300 days. The Bible furnishes us with four
tests by which we may determine when the true date is found:—
1. From the time the commandment was given, 49 years were to
witness the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem. Daniel
9:25.
2. Threescore and two weeks from this time, or, in all, 69
weeks, 483 years, were to extend to Messiah the Prince, or to the
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anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, the word
Messiah signifying anointed.
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3. Sixty-nine and a half weeks were to extend to the crucifix-
ion,—the cessation of sacrifice and oblation in the midst of the week.
Verse 27.
4. The full period of 70 weeks was to witness the complete con-
firmation of the covenant with Daniel’s people. At the termination
of this period, the Jews having ceased to be God’s chosen people,
the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles.
In the seventh of Ezra we find the decree which we seek. It was
issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, B. C. 457. In Ezra 6:14 the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built “according
to the commandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia.” The three kings did the one work; it
was begun by Cyrus, carried forward by Darius, and completed by
Artaxerxes. The scripture counts this action one decree. That the
later decrees were a continuation or completion of that of Cyrus, see
Ezra 6:1-14. Taking B. C. 457 as the date of the commandment, every specification of the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks is
fulfilled. That the reader may see the reasonableness of Mr. Miller’s
position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which was
published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1850, in answer
to a correspondent:—
“It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period