2 Peter 3:10, commentary and pictures

The day of the Lord will come suddenly and without warning like a thief in the night at the close of this earth's history. In it the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all its works will be burned up and dissolved by overwhelming fire from God that no human power can stay or quench. That same fire is the just punishment of the wicked for transgression of God's law, as the former world perished by water when warning was slighted. The same fire purifies the earth of all sin and curse and leaves no eternally burning hell, preparing a new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness as the saints' eternal home. Because all these things shall be dissolved, believers must live now in holy conduct and godliness, watching and repenting and found without spot and blameless, hastening the day and laying up no treasure in what will be consumed.

Sudden Thief-like Coming

The day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly and without warning, like a thief in the night. At that coming the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent and intense heat, and the earth and the works therein, everything done in it, shall be burned up and dissolved. This sudden thief-like coming calls for holy conduct and godliness in those who know it, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God when the heavens on fire are dissolved.

That coming stands at the close of this earth's history, in the last remnant of time. Prophecy is fulfilling and Christ will soon come with power and great glory, so there is no time to lose and no one should say the coming is delayed. What lies before is little known, the end of all things is at hand, and men and women everywhere must be roused to immediate preparation and to earnest, increasing effort.

Its apparent delay is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The delay gives good hope for all through faith in Jesus Christ, faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and it allows work to be done for the wicked rather than meaning judgment will not come. When God acts He will judge with justice and accuracy.

Its suddenness as a thief falls on the unwatchful, on the half-asleep and listless and indifferent, and on those who do not realize where they stand. It falls on those warned but unheeding, who disregard messages to please and glorify themselves, whose hearts are not changed and molded after the divine similitude, who refuse to humble their hearts and will not be sanctified or prepared to see or understand. For them it is the day of their visitation, when they are taken unawares because they do not see nor understand over what they have stumbled, while those spiritually awake understand where they stand and learn danger before it is everlastingly too late. God's judgments abroad in the land in terrible calamities and plagues beginning to fall give the meaning of that day and warn of wrath to come, requiring telling others what is coming and how each may escape so they do not go down into darkness without preparation for the future life.

It will come when fears are quieted, when peace and safety are preached, when reasoning has banished fear of God's judgments, and when warnings are regarded as delusion and the messenger as a fanatic. Great and wise men will have proved to their satisfaction that destruction by fire is impossible, religious teachers will point to long ages of peace and prosperity, pulpits will say all things remain as they were from the beginning, and a power from beneath will keep minds full of pleasure and amusements so they do not heed warning. At that time the world is absorbed in business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merry-making, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, with minds engrossed in things of minor importance and in selfish worldly pursuits instead of faithful service. Men indulge pride, appetite and passion and practice abominable wickedness that fast fills the cup of iniquity, heap treasures reserved for that burning, reject warnings and mock messengers, and go on as ever amid casualties and loss of life by floods, fire, rail disasters, earthquakes, plagues, disease and sudden death while the Spirit of God is being withdrawn. Then sudden destruction comes and they shall not escape unless they heed the warning and are saved, just as the scoffers in Noah's day were overwhelmed in the flood.

World Dissolved by Fire

In that day the sky will vanish with a roaring crash, the basic elements will melt in blazing heat, and the earth with everything built and done upon it will be burned up and dissolved. The coming is sudden and without warning at the close of this earth's history, and its delay is longsuffering mercy, unwilling that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and find hope through faith in Jesus, a faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Because all these things will be dissolved, those who know it are to live in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God when the heavens on fire are dissolved and the elements melt, looking by promise for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. They are to be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless, not led away by the error of the wicked from steadfastness, but growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, wrestling for mastery over every sin, checking impatient expression, abiding in Him and walking as He walked, and counting His longsuffering as salvation.

Fire comes from God out of heaven, breaking open the earth and kindling its depths until weapons hidden within are drawn forth. Devouring flames burst from every chasm, rocks are on fire, burning mountains pour out lava and molten ore with rocks and heated mud, rivers boil or dry up, and the land is convulsed by eruptions and earthquakes. Lightning from heaven joins fire stored within the earth just before Christ comes, and fire from heaven unites with it again at the last great day to purify the earth as water did in the Flood, making preparation for Christ and the judgment urgent. The whole surface becomes one molten mass, a vast seething lake of fire, and that burning is the recompense of the wicked punished in cleansing flames according to their deeds. The fires now concealed in mountains point to that coming judgment, when at His command the earth is wrapped in flames and He rises to punish those who have filled their measure and rejected His law, upholding His authority.

At Christ's second coming in clouds with power and great glory, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand angels, the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and is removed like a cottage, while not only earth but the heavens themselves are shaken. The elements burn in flames and the heavens are rolled together like a scroll, so that His enemies cannot stand before Him. The general resurrection of the just accompanies this upheaval, when all the precious dead from righteous Abel to the last saint hear His voice and awake to glorious immortal life. The whole earth blazes with the terrible light of His presence, for fire devours before Him and a fiery stream issues from Him, surpassing the glory seen at Sinai when the Lord appeared as devouring fire. He is thus revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel, coming to judge His people.

That fire is overwhelming and irresistible, more thorough in its dissolving than the great fires close by and in London and Chicago, which no power or invention of human skill could stay and which called Chicago to repentance. It cannot be quenched by human means, for God cleanses the earth of moral corruption by fire rather than by another flood as in Noah's day. Efforts to stop the day of God will be futile, yet Christ's followers will be sustained by the blessed hope and hidden as in the secret of His pavilion. Once its appointed time has come, no human power can divert that last-day conflagration as the judgment of God.

The passage proves how quickly the Lord God of Hosts can create and how quickly He can destroy, giving reason to fear the Lord and acknowledge His power. Finite man is not to exalt himself against God with great swelling words of vanity that corrupt speaker and hearer. It will come when great and wise men have proved to their satisfaction that destruction by fire is impossible, when fears are quieted, warning is counted delusion and its messenger a fanatic, reasoning has banished fear of judgment, teachers point to long ages of peace, and the world absorbed in business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merry-making, rejects warnings and mocks messengers; then sudden destruction comes without escape, as scoffers in Noah's day were overwhelmed, proving human wisdom foolishness. The Lawgiver is greater than the laws of nature and has no lack of means to accomplish His purposes.

Place in Final Events

The burning belongs to the time when Christ comes to gather the faithful to Himself, not with a still small voice but with the last great trumpet and a terrible shaking of earth and heaven. That trumpet sounds through the whole earth and is heard from the loftiest mountains to the deepest mines, from the highest mountains to the deepest mines, over the whole earth. At its sounding the righteous dead hear it and come forth from their graves clothed with immortality to meet their Lord in the air, from righteous Abel to the last saint that dies awaking to glorious immortal life to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Those who pierced the Saviour, who scourged, mocked, despised, rejected and crucified Him, are also raised to behold Him coming in the clouds of heaven as Judge of all the earth, attended by the heavenly host ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels, in power and great glory. At that second appearing not only the earth but the heavens themselves are shaken, the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and is removed like a cottage and moved from its place, the elements are in flames and burn, the heavens pass away with a great noise and disappear with loud noise and are rolled together as a scroll, and the earth and the works in it are burned up and consumed by fire, so that His enemies will be unable to stand before Him. Just before Christ comes lightning from heaven unites with fire in the earth to destroy the wicked, with burning mountains pouring out lava, molten ore, rocks and heated mud, rivers boiling or dried up, and the land devastated and convulsed by eruptions and earthquakes. Amid these upheavals the saints are preserved as Noah was preserved during the Flood.

The earth is not cleansed until after the thousand years, when fire from God consumes the wicked and purifies the earth. The saints first rest in the Holy City and reign as kings and priests one thousand years, safe with Jesus when the gates are shut, having in unison with Him measured out judgment to each of the wicked according to deeds through the thousand years. Then Jesus descends with the saints, and after God's people have spent the thousand years in the city of God and are eternally secure, they will be on the renewed earth and see what God has done for them. At the end of the thousand years the wicked dead are raised and gather around the City, because the feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new. Then fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them, burning them up root and branch with Satan as the root and his children as the branches, as the execution of the judgment, and the same fire that devours the wicked purifies the whole earth, melting the mountains and atmosphere with fervent heat and consuming all stubble until the whole earth made new opens before the saints as their glorious inheritance. That final destruction follows Satan's last rebellion, when the earth is broken up, weapons concealed in its depths are drawn forth, devouring flames burst from every chasm, the rocks are on fire, the day burns as an oven, and the melting of the elements with fervent heat and the burning up of the earth and its works make the whole surface one molten mass, a vast seething lake of fire. It is the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men, the day of the Lord's vengeance and year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, when the wicked receive their recompense in the earth and are destroyed in cleansing flames.

At the time of that purification Christ will again stand upon the Mount of Olives, and as His feet rest upon it the mount will part asunder and become a mighty plain, a great plain prepared for the Paradise of God and the city of God to rest upon. The city placed on the purified earth will never be corrupted and its inhabitants will never know corruption, once the enemy of God is put down. Jerusalem lies under the curse of God with a dark blot of guilt for the rejection and crucifixion of Christ and is no longer a sacred place, and it will never again be a sacred place until it has been cleansed by that purifying fire of heaven from every stain of sin. When God purifies the earth it becomes a sea of liquid fire except where the New Jerusalem stands, and the city containing the faithful of all ages is miraculously preserved amid the fire as the ark was preserved during the Flood, while the righteous remain safe in the holy city. Smoke and flame are powerless to harm the righteous who are united with the Lord and prepared to meet Him in peace, just as the Son of God was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, so that earthquakes, hurricanes, flame and flood cannot injure them, and Christ's followers are sustained by the blessed hope and protected by God, hidden as in the secret of His pavilion, when efforts to stop the overwhelming fire are futile.

The description of the earth being burned was wrongly taken to mean that Jesus would come in 1844 to cleanse the sanctuary by purifying the earth with fire, but He did not then come to earth and instead entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. The cleansing of the sanctuary was understood to be the purification of the earth by the fires of the last great day at the second advent of Christ, so the 2300 days ending in the autumn of 1844 were taken to mean that Christ would return to earth in 1844. The future second coming of Christ and the establishment of the saints on the new earth have not yet taken place. Enoch's translation to heaven before the Flood represents the translation of the living righteous from the earth before that fiery destruction. When the Lord comes again and the heavens and earth undergo devastating upheaval, with the heavens passing away with a great noise, the elements melting with fervent heat, and the earth and its works burned up, the Lord will be the hope of His people and the strength of Israel.

Just Punishment for Sin

The burning is the final recompense of the wicked, who are punished in cleansing flames in the earth according to their deeds. In that day of judgment fire comes from God out of heaven, breaking open the earth and igniting its depths, drawing forth weapons concealed there as devouring flames burst from every chasm. The elements melt with fervent heat, the rocks are on fire, the day burns as an oven, and the whole surface becomes one molten mass, a vast seething lake of fire in which the earth and everything in it and all its works are burned up. It is the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men, the day of vengeance and year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, coming after Satan's last rebellion, and after the wicked have perished the earth is cleansed of sin and its curse.

The whole world will finally be destroyed by fire in the closing period of its history because its inhabitants transgress holy law and remain impenitent. This is the sure result of transgression, as the antediluvian world was destroyed for transgressing law and refusing warning, Sodom for disobeying the laws of the kingdom, and Jerusalem for refusing messages. The destruction of Jerusalem was but a symbol of this greater calamity coming on a world that will not take warning, even impenitent souls for whom Christ was about to give His life as the great sacrificial offering for redemption, which He discerned with omniscient eye while weeping over Jerusalem. That coming burning is not by flood as in the antediluvian world but by fire.

As the former world perished by water, the present world is reserved for judgment by fire. Destruction comes when warning is slighted, mercy refused, and wickedness fast fills the cup, as in Noah's day and Sodom, with treasures heaped for the burning and the earth fast becoming a Sodom. The strange abandonment of principle, lowered standard of morality, wrecks of humanity, broken-down family altars and ruined homes prove the time for purification is close, and God will cleanse the earth of its moral corruption by fire that no human means can quench, not by another flood. People may reason themselves into false security and reassure themselves that a merciful God would not destroy for failing to believe the warning, just as before the Flood, but mercy does not mean sparing those who refuse warning. Escape is still offered before the judgment through refuge in Jesus Christ and obedience to truth and law, with the call to fear God and keep His commandments in preparation for the fiery destruction of the sinful and disobedient who perish.

When the wicked have filled their measure of iniquity, the Lord will rise to punish them and uphold and maintain His authority against those who have rejected His law. By His command the earth will be wrapped in flames and He will shake not only the earth but also the heavens, kindling a furnace to wrap the earth in flames. The fires concealed within and beneath mountains and the volcanic fires hidden there point to this coming judgment. Disregard of law has made the world like Sodom and Gomorrah and as before the Flood, with iniquity and crime of every order in high places, gambling, robbery, drunkenness, cruelty and corruption under Satan's rule, and the wickedness of men has almost reached its limit, so complete destruction comes very soon in judgments soon to fall, some iniquity being revealed so men may understand why judgments are sent and church members must warn the world.

At that time, with judgments falling beforehand and the earth to be deluged by fire, the impenitent will see that transgression and despising of holy law has caused their ruin. Like the sinners of the old world in the Flood, they will acknowledge sin from fear of punishment while blaspheming God, with no true contrition and no abhorrence of evil. They would return to defiance of Heaven if the judgment were removed. God's patience and restraint toward sinful people will not last forever, for while He continues to offer even the undeserving hope of forgiveness, His dealings will suddenly change and transgressors will face certain punishment.

The stealing like a thief in the night is also the work of spurious scientific theories that come unexpectedly, stealing away the landmarks and undermining the pillars of faith. The day of God will reveal the true cause of disappointments in people once encouraged and trusted with important work, that they fell because they relied on their own strength instead of meeting the conditions of faithfulness and dependence on God.

Cleansing and New Earth

The same fire that devours the wicked purifies the earth, cleansing it a second time from moral corruption, sin and impurity and from every trace and mark of the curse, and preparing it for God's government. The sin-defiled earth is now preparing for that purification by fire. The cleansing of the whole earth does not come until after the thousand years, for the saints first rest in the Holy City and reign as kings and priests one thousand years, then descend with Jesus upon the Mount of Olives which parts asunder into a mighty plain for the Paradise of God to rest upon, and only when the wicked dead are raised at the end of the thousand years and gather around the city does fire come down from God out of heaven to devour them, because the feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new. That fire burns them up root and branch, with Satan as the root and his children as the branches, each receiving according as had been measured out through the thousand years, while the saints are safe with Jesus inside the shut gates of the city.

In that burning the mountains and the atmosphere melt with fervent heat and all stubble is consumed. The earth is left clean with no sign of the curse and its rubbish burned away, the universe is made clean, and the great controversy ends forever. The fire does not leave an eternally burning hell to remind the redeemed of the consequences of sin. There is no immortal sinner; the soul that sins dies an everlasting death that lasts forever with no hope of resurrection, and then the wrath of God is appeased.

The purified earth made new becomes the saints' glorious eternal inheritance and home, the beautiful new earth where they possess the kingdom forever. It is the promised new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness, in contrast to earthly treasures and all things earthly dissolved and lost when the world and everything in it is consumed by fire, while the righteous receive enduring heavenly treasures. After the thousand years God's people will be in the city of God on the renewed earth and will see what God has done for them.

Jerusalem is no longer a sacred place but lies under the curse of God with a dark blot of guilt for the rejection and crucifixion of Christ, and it will never again be a sacred place until it has been cleansed by the purifying fires of heaven that purify the sin-cursed earth from every stain of sin. At the time of that purification Christ will again stand upon the Mount of Olives, and as His feet rest upon it the mountain will part asunder and become a great plain prepared for the city of God.

Urgency and Present Warnings

The day is near, at hand, the end of all things is at hand, and there is no time to lose in the close of this earth's history, in the last remnant of time when prophecy is fulfilling and Christ will soon come with power and great glory. There is no temporal millennium in which to delay, for life and death and eternity are at stake and souls are to be saved or lost, so men and women everywhere must be roused to immediate preparation, persuaded to repent, to come to Jesus through the open door, to keep souls in the love of God, and to flee from the wrath to come. The warning must sound forth in earnest words, instant in season and out of season, with truth not languishing on the lips, telling that the end is near and the earth is to be purified by fire, while workers watch, pray, work and wait and the blessing rests on those who warn the unready. That nearness is proved by wickedness now fast increasing like the antediluvians and Sodom, by strange abandonment of principle, lowered morality, wrecks of humanity, broken-down family altars and ruined homes, with the earth fast becoming a Sodom and the time for purification close. The same nearness must shape spending, for buildings are temporary and money should bring truth to condemned sinners rather than go to ambitious plans, extravagance, display, and expensive brick or stone buildings merely for show, lest profession be contradicted, worldlings be given occasion to say believers do not believe, and institutions be left exposed to rebuke and judgments as fell on the Sanitarium and publishing house in Battle Creek.

Fire, floods, earthquakes, storms, disasters by sea and land, casualties, disease, and the unsettled state of the world are warnings of His approach and of the day of judgment, showing the end is near. The great conflagrations and disasters are special providences warning of what is about to come, showing God can kindle upon idols a fire that water cannot quench, and the terrible calamities sweeping away costly structures are opportunity to tell how to escape the wrath to come. These judgments are meant to arouse men and women to get ready to meet the Lord, to turn from wicked ways to the living God, to stand in fear before Him, to investigate Bible truth, and to live in holiness and godliness looking for and hastening the day of God, with a great work still to be done to prepare a people and with finishing punishment still to come on wicked cities. The dissolving will be even more thorough than the great fires close by and in London and in Chicago, which no power or invention of human skill could stay. That fire was the voice of God calling Chicago to repentance, and the destruction of San Francisco and of cities now visiting the country warns the world of what is coming when the earth and its works are burned up, recalls what will be seen in the judgment day, and calls to turn from sin and prepare for future immortal life because the time to prepare will end suddenly with no further opportunity.

The chapter foretells the abominations, crimes and wickedness that would prevail during the last days, now fulfilled in the state of the world, and that fulfillment calls true Christians to live lives of humility and prayer, since Bible truth alone is worth living for. Satan incites nations to war to distract minds from preparation for the day of God. Expecting Old Jerusalem to be rebuilt and making a mission there a necessary work before Christ comes distracts mind, interest and means from present truth and the gathering work under the third angel's message, leaves souls around to perish, and accomplishes no real good. Old Jerusalem never will be built up, and the Jerusalem idea is a deception to lead minds away now and cause neglect of the necessary preparation for the day of the Lord, when the whole interest should be thrown into helping souls in this land to keep the commandments of God.

Holy Life and Readiness

Since everything now seen will be dissolved when the heavens pass with roaring noise and the elements melt with intense heat and the earth and all its works are burned up, those who know this are to live in all holy conduct and godliness. That holy life looks for and hastens the coming of the day of God when the heavens on fire are dissolved, and looks according to promise for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The coming judgment is sudden and without warning like a thief in the night at the close of this earth's history, and its delay is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It will be more thorough than the great fires close by and in London and Chicago which no power or invention of human skill could stay, proving how quickly God can create and destroy. Therefore God's people must go forward and not stand still, advancing rather than going backward.

They must be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. They must beware of being led away by the error of the wicked and falling from steadfastness, remaining steadfast and growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They are to account the longsuffering of the Lord as salvation. That preparation is especially required of churches that are neither cold nor hot and need a fresh, new experience, for Christ's coming is near at hand.

They must take heed to themselves lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, so that day does not come upon them unawares as a snare upon all on earth. They must watch and pray always that they may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man. They must watch and keep to the great work of rapidly extending Christ's kingdom, because the aim is to keep them occupied in little skirmishes among themselves so that through lack of watchfulness that day overtakes them unprepared. Constant vigilance is required so believers are not caught unprepared by a coming that may be unexpected like a thief.

Men and women everywhere must be persuaded to repent of sins, return to the Lord, come to Jesus through the open door, keep their souls in the love of God, and flee from the wrath to come, because souls are to be saved or lost and there is no time to lose. Escape is now offered through refuge in Jesus Christ and obedience to God's truth and law before the present world reserved for fire is judged as the former world perished by water. Sinners are to seek mercy and pardon through Christ and prepare for His coming, for those who refuse will face wrath and call in vain for rocks and mountains to hide them. Sins concealed or left unconfessed and unforgiven must be confessed and repented of before judgment so they may be blotted out, for preparation cannot be postponed to the time of trouble or afterward. Those unprepared will face the last conflict in despair, confessing in anguish while the wicked exult over their distress.

The warning must sound forth in earnest words, instant in season and out of season, with truth not languishing upon the lips, rousing people to immediate preparation for the end of all things at hand. Workers must watch, pray, work and wait, telling what is coming and how every one may escape the wrath to come, for judgments abroad in terrible calamities give the meaning of that day. Cities must be warned before it is everlastingly too late, while destroying angels are executing their commission and death comes in all places as in the days of Noah and at the destruction of Jerusalem. Blessing rests on workers who warn those unready to meet Him, with holiness connected with mercy as effect with cause. Belief in the approaching day and end of all things should be shown through actions.

In view of that day God purifies and tests His people, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken. They must endure hardship for the truth and remain firmly grounded in it, or they will fall, and they must be fitted to stand in that day and for holy heaven. Those absorbed in selfish, worldly pursuits instead of faithfully serving God are in danger at the approaching day. Like those who helped build the ark yet refused good society, those who will not separate from evil associations will perish in the general ruin. Readiness is not reliance on personal righteousness but on Christ's righteousness, for happiness pursued without trust in God is brief and unreliable.

The education needed to meet the day of trial coming as a thief stealing unawares is the education of the school of the prophets, in which all powers are trained and consecrated to service, with time and youthful zeal employed to glorify God in real, thorough, well-organized efforts under instructors to be a blessing to others. Preparing a people to stand in that day is a great work requiring qualified workers who have learned how to study, to bring thoughts under control of the will, to use mental powers wisely, and to bring practical godliness into daily experience. Good hope comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and faith works by love and purifies the soul. This standard is reached not in natural ability but through grace given by Jesus Christ, wrestling for mastery over every sin and checking every impatient, fretful expression, abiding in Him and walking even as He walked.

Earthly Values Reordered

All earthly treasure gathered in this life will be destroyed in the great general conflagration just ahead, when all the wasted labor of life will be swept away in a night and day. The world and everything in it will soon be consumed by fire, with earthly possessions, improvements, worldly glory and human embellishments burned and dissolved so that nothing belonging to this world remains. Men heap to themselves treasures reserved for that burning while engrossed in things of minor importance, indulging pride, appetite and passion, and treasures gained by self-seeking under the spirit of the world will be lost in contrast to imperishable treasure gained by self-denial and self-sacrifice under the Spirit of Christ. Great conflagrations and disasters by sea and land warn of what is about to come, showing a fire kindled upon idols that water cannot quench. Earthly things therefore cannot compensate for the loss of a soul.

Whoever now returns to the Lord and uses talents of means and influence for His glory sends treasure before him to heaven and will not meet with total loss. Treasure laid up in heaven is safe where no thief can approach nor moth corrupt it, and means used to win souls is invested in lasting heavenly treasure that endures in the promised new heavens and new earth. Because buildings on this earth will soon be consumed in the great conflagration and the Lord is soon to come, faith in that soon coming must be represented in the buildings erected. No large outlay of money should be put into a building that will soon be destroyed, but buildings should be solid, well constructed, thoroughly presentable, and put up at as little cost as possible.

Ambitious plans must be bound about, and extravagance, display, unnecessary expense and improvidence guarded against. Money means souls and is to be used to bring a knowledge of the truth to those under condemnation because of sin, lest the Lord's treasury become empty and builders lack means to do their appointed work. Investing means for display or launching out into expensive buildings of brick or stone merely for show contradicts profession of belief in the soon coming and gives worldlings occasion to say believers do not believe what they preach. Persisting in such extravagant building after warning brings the rebuke of God and leaves institutions exposed to His judgments, as in the judgments that fell upon the Sanitarium and the publishing house in Battle Creek. Costly buildings will become ashes, ships and their treasures will sink, and human pride will be brought low, for God permits retributive judgments to fall on those who persist in sin despite great light even before the last great destruction.

Human monuments and the places people prize will melt in the fiery destruction of the last day, so life should not be devoted to this world. Heaven is the believer's home and true citizenship. In contrast, children taught and souls brought to Christ are living stones that will stand through those fires and shine forever. Years spent acquiring worldly knowledge and education from authors with no vital connection with God produces only wood and stubble for the last fire. Such learning will die with those who gain it and God places no value on it, unlike knowledge from His word which need not be left behind with the things of this world but can be carried into paradise.

Improved farms, buildings and all earthly things cannot be taken into heaven. Christians who profess that the end is near but devote their energies to accumulating worldly possessions act as though they expect to remain here and do not need to seek a better, heavenly country. Photographs and other pictures will also be burned up with the earth and the works in it. Desiring and collecting them is loving perishable things, and indulging them teaches children to desire what will perish, so obedience requires restraining desire for such pictures and turning from every species of idolatry. The fires of the last day will consume many souls who might have been saved if the church had comprehended her sacred responsibilities and become laborers together with God. Laborers are largely to blame for the indifference seen and need to be broken up in heart and in action, with abilities and means used now to support God's kingdom and the saving of souls while the great day of the Lord is soon to open.