Daniel 12:1, commentary and pictures

Michael is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the great Prince who stands for His people and leads heaven's host in their defense.
His standing up is the close of His work as High Priest, when every case is decided and mercy pleads no longer, and His taking kingly robes and power to reign and deliver.
Then comes a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, when the saints pass through terrible anguish with no apparent escape and must stand each one alone before God.
At that time all of God's sealed, purified people whose names remain written in the book of life shall be delivered by God's voice, guarded by angels, and clothed with Christ's righteousness.
Therefore preparation must be made now, by confession and forsaking of sin that it may be blotted out, by receiving the seal of God and reflecting Christ fully, for in that crisis the righteous must live in God's sight without a Mediator.

Meaning of Key Words

Michael is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the great Prince who stands for God's people and leads the Lord's host in their defense. He is still interceding for Israel in the most holy place, and His standing up had not yet happened when the sanctuary work was ongoing. The standing up is the ending of His intercession as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, closing probation when every case is decided for salvation or destruction and mercy no longer pleads for the guilty. It comes after the third message closes and after God's people have received the seal of God, leaving no further atoning blood to cleanse from sin and no further mercy for the impenitent. It is still future and distinct from His rising in 1844 to shut the door and enter the Holy of Holies, for first He must finish His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.

Standing up also means laying off priestly attire and mediatorial garments, stepping out from between the Father and man, and clothing Himself with garments of vengeance. It means putting on kingly robes and crown to ride forth on the cloudy chariot, to reign as King of kings, to manifest kingly power, to thresh the heathen in anger, to destroy the wicked, and to deliver His people. Then God keeps silent no longer but pours out His wrath on those who rejected truth, which is the seven last plagues, with the anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead following one after another while the four angels hold the four winds until the sanctuary work is done. At that time He has the sharp sickle in His hand, and the saints cry day and night to Him on the cloud to thrust it in and reap. One position presents that manifest kingly power is shown when the last power oppressing the true church comes to its end with none to help it.

The time of trouble is unparalleled, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time, coming at the great day of God as God answers the cry of human woe and cleanses the earth from moral corruption by unquenchable fire. The world is entering this trouble as Satan gains control of people who do not fear God, and it will be an ordeal beyond vivid description in which each person must stand individually before God. Even the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, or Job cannot deliver another person, but each can save only his own soul through righteousness, and those who stand must have an experience of faith and obedience with no cherished sin giving Satan a foothold. The crisis begins when God allows restraining angels to release the winds, bringing conflict beyond description.

Thy people are Daniel's people, God's sealed people prepared for the trial, the purified, made-white, and tried people. They are the worthies whose title is as secure as a deed registered, safe from the wrath of men and the rage of demons, to secure immortality as reward according to works. They include the 144,000 and all faithful sufferers for truth who endure destitution, affliction, torment, imprisonment, and death for refusing deceptive claims, whom human tribunals condemned as criminals. They are those who keep the law, refuse to give up the Sabbath and observe the first day, trust God under a death decree, are protected by angels, and are translated without seeing death.

The book is the book of life, God's heavenly record containing the names of those who have entered His service. Every person's name and record of faithfulness or unfaithfulness are kept there, including wrong words, selfish acts, neglected duties, secret sins, deeds of righteousness, acts of love and sacrifice, resisted temptations, suffering endured for Christ, and the effects of influence. Pardon is written opposite the names of those recorded in heaven, Christ removes their filthy garments and clothes them with His righteousness, clean garments and a fair mitre, so Satan's stirring of the wicked to surround and destroy them cannot overturn pardon or prevent deliverance from Satan's power.

The verse belongs to Daniel's vision of the last days whose words were closed up and sealed till the time of the end. The seal has been removed and light shines upon it so it is understood at the end of the days, concerning the closing period of world history and the closing scenes whose fulfillment shows the end is near. It is connected with the two classes found in the last days, the wicked persisting in wickedness without understanding while the wise understand. It is connected with the awakening of the dead, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt, and with the wise and those who turn many to righteousness shining forever, while Daniel stands in his lot and in his place at the end of the days bearing that testimony.

Timing and Sequence

Michael's standing up is still future and did not occur when Jesus rose up in 1844 to shut the door and enter the Most Holy Place to receive His kingdom. While sanctuary work and intercession continue the standing up has not yet taken place and the full trouble has not yet begun. When priestly work is finished He lays off priestly attire and puts on garments of vengeance and kingly robes and crown to ride forth to thresh the heathen, manifest kingly power, destroy the wicked and deliver His people when the last oppressing power comes to its end with none to help it. At that time He has the sharp sickle in hand, and the saints cry day and night for Him on the cloud to reap, and are delivered by the voice of God with the 144,000 triumphing after a decree to kill them under the seven last plagues.

The standing up comes after the closing work of the third angel's message when mercy no longer pleads and Christ's intercession ends, with the sealed people prepared and delivered as those written in the book. The trouble begins in a short closing period while Christ is still ministering in the sanctuary, when the nations are angry but restrained so they cannot stop the work. In that period the latter rain or refreshing from the Lord's presence gives power to the message, the saints proclaim the Sabbath more fully, and the Holy Spirit prepares them to stand through the plagues. The Sabbath becomes the separating line, and those who had not kept it but had not rejected its light recognize the truth, leave the churches and nominal Adventists, join God's chosen, and endure persecution while the wicked blame them for sword, famine, pestilence and confusion and plot to destroy them.

That time is very near, right upon us, with prophetic scenes soon to take place and the Lord about to do a short decisive and effectual work in the earth. The Judge of all the earth will soon come to give every person his reward. The unprecedented trouble soon to begin will be an ordeal beyond vivid description in which each must stand individually before God, with no cherished sin giving Satan a foothold and with small differences not allowed to hinder spiritual life and work.

The trouble has already commenced and begun in growing form and is on the increase, marked by continual riots and accidents, murders and robberies, wars and rumors of wars, destruction by fire and flood, and growing violence so that life is unsafe except under God's protection. Nations are angry and Satan is working with signs and lying wonders, and this working will increase until the end as living evidence of the Word and as God's instrument to punish those who misrepresented and dishonored truth. Its full blowing is still checked because the saints are not all sealed, with the four winds only just loosening and God waiting for tardy movements while the church is behind her privileges, indolent and polluted. Those who receive the seal will go through it, and it will increase more and more and never end until the earth is rid of the wicked.

The trouble must come before Christ's coming in the clouds as part of the coming day of the Lord and its plagues, through which God's people are delivered before they stand before the Son of man. Dates set for His coming before that trouble pass by, and each failed date weakens faith.

European kings keep reigning until Christ begins to reign when Michael stands up, so the popular desire in Europe to dethrone them will not be accomplished. As the movement to gain the ascendancy advances the work will seem to slacken once or twice and only appear to settle down, which hardens the hearts of the wicked while rulers remain as intent on sustaining themselves as the people are on gaining ascendancy. Before the promised deliverance the sins of Israel must go beforehand to judgment with every sin confessed at the sanctuary now, while in that trouble with confusion and unfulfilled desires the remnant will cry out feeling forsaken by God.

The trouble begins before the seven last plagues are poured out and then continues through them, beginning while restraint still holds rulers and people and ending without an intercessor after restraint is removed. When Jesus steps out from between the Father and humanity and leaves the most holy place, His restraining Spirit is withdrawn, the plagues fall, evil angels control rulers and people, and Satan-directed laws threaten so that none could be saved unless the time were very short. Yet cases have already been decided, and some rulers who receive the final truth will endure through this trouble with the saints under God's sheltering protection through steady faith.

Deliverance of the living saints by the voice of God is distinct from and before the first resurrection to everlasting life, and before the visible sign of the Son of man and His coming. From that deliverance until Christ appears the delivered have power over the nations remaining under the former plagues. The trouble itself follows the mighty earthquake and the voice of God, during which God's people suffer affliction. Close upon this the day and hour are announced, the sea boils like a pot, mountains shake, the sky is in commotion, sealed dead rise to stand with the 144,000, and the great white cloud appears with Christ in the east with sword girded on His thigh to make deliverance perfect and entire in the catching up on the cloud.

Nature of the Trouble

The unprecedented trouble is trouble among the nations caused by the seven last plagues in the coming day of the Lord, not the saints' own trial, coming before Christ's second coming from which the saints escape before standing before the Son of Man. Michael stands up to manifest kingly power by destroying the wicked and delivering His people when the last oppressing power comes to its end with none to help it, followed by the resurrection of the just to everlasting life. Rising scarcity and price of food, with other nations looking to the United States for food, are signs that this trouble upon the nations is drawing near and that redemption is near even while others suffer. It is the same desolation of the harvest with seed rotten under clods, desolate storehouses, broken-down barns and withered corn, the day of the Lord and time of slaughter in which God's people are delivered by having the covering of Almighty God drawn over them, begun in the sealing time and soon completed over all who shall have shelter, while those not firmly planted on present truth tremble and slide and, if held by Satan till sealing ends, are left without protection.

The saints themselves nevertheless pass through terrible anguish with no apparent escape, the time of Jacob's trouble typified by Jacob wrestling over Esau, crying day and night and wrestling like Jacob until God reveals His power. It begins when Michael the great Prince who stands for God's people stands up after finishing priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary, laying off priestly clothing and putting on kingly robes and crown to ride forth to thresh the heathen and deliver His people with the sharp sickle in hand. While that sanctuary work continues the standing up and the full trouble have not yet come, but when it is finished the seven last plagues fall and the wicked issue a decree to kill the saints, who are pursued and threatened with death yet cry out and are rescued by the voice of God, the 144,000 triumphing with faces shining with God's glory. Their cases have already been decided with no further atoning blood to cleanse from sin.

The crisis centers on a decree passed by the highest earthly authority, with church and state and apostate Protestants and Catholics united, requiring worship of the beast and receiving his mark under pain of persecution and death, forbidding buying or selling except to those with the mark so that God's people cannot sell at any price, threatening Sabbath keepers who refuse the beast's image and Sunday observance and the observance of the first day as Sabbath with punishment and death. It comes upon the small remnant sealed with the seal of the living God and found written in the book when every case is decided and probation ends with mercy no longer pleading for the impenitent, when they are unable to defend themselves in deadly conflict with earthly powers marshaled by the dragon host and make God their defense. The near enforcement in California was only a threatening of the blowing of the four winds, still held back because God's people were not ready and a work remained to be done, leaving the present as opportunity to work before that trouble arrives.

Satan stirs and surrounds the wicked to destroy the commandment-keeping people and accuses them before God demanding them to be handed over to him, while those recorded in heaven have pardon written against them and are clothed in clean garments with a fair mitre so his attack cannot overturn pardon or prevent deliverance, guarded by holy angels with cases already decided in the sanctuary. After people reject mercy, despise love and trample law, probation ends and God's protection is withdrawn and His restraining Spirit withdrawn from rulers and people, restraint removed and divine restraint withdrawn, so Satan gains control of the finally impenitent and evil angels control them, plunging the world into ruin more terrible than Jerusalem's destruction, with Satan-directed laws threatening to prevent anyone being saved unless the time is very short. His wrath and work of destruction then reach their height as his time grows short, and his power will again be felt by those who love and fear God.

The trouble is manifested in cities becoming worse and worse with strife and bloodshed, earthquakes throwing down buildings and fire from heaven consuming them. It comes through civil war and starvation caused by powerful men manipulating markets and selling necessities at greatly increased prices, through confusion and danger as restraining power is withdrawn and death and destruction increase, when the world is taken captive by satanic agencies. It is already beginning as nations are angry and Satan works with signs and lying wonders that will increase to the end, God using His enemies as instruments to punish those who misrepresented, misjudged and dishonored truth, living evidences fulfilling what holy men spoke by the Holy Ghost, showing the importance of repeated cautions, for God does not forewarn of trifles. In that confusion the uplifted Saviour will be presented in every land and place, and all who look to Him in faith may live as Israelites who looked at the bronze serpent lived.

In that ordeal beyond vivid description each person must stand individually before God for himself, and even the righteousness of Noah, Daniel or Job cannot deliver another, each saving only his own soul by righteousness, requiring an experience of faith and obedience with no cherished sin giving Satan a foothold. Some leading men and rulers who receive the truth and accept the final warning and loud cry will stand with God's people and endure through this trouble with the saints. Until then Christ's intercession in the heavenly sanctuary and the Spirit's influence still restrain evil through laws and through opposing rulers. God's people will need unfaltering faith and will remain loyal rather than yield to false worship, even when obedience brings imprisonment, exile or death.

Deliverance of God's People

At that time every one found written in the book shall be delivered, namely the small remnant sealed with the seal of the living God who have made God their defense when unable to defend themselves against earthly powers marshaled by the dragon host. Michael's standing up marks the end of Christ's intercession when every case is decided and mercy no longer pleads for the guilty, and the unparalleled time of trouble follows after the third message closes. The trouble comes as God answers the cry of human woe and cleanses the earth from moral corruption, and the conflict exposes rebellion and vindicates obedience to His law as just and above every opposing power, though the universe's acknowledgment gives rebels no further probation. The world is already entering this trouble while Satan gains control of those who do not fear God.

Deliverance comes by the voice of God rescuing the saints from Satan's power after they cry to Him when the seven last plagues fall and the wicked issue a decree to kill them. This crisis is the time of Jacob's trouble, and the 144,000 then triumph with faces shining with God's glory. When the wicked pursue them their weapons fail, for God hears the saints' cries and speaks the everlasting covenant and blesses those who kept His Sabbath holy, turning their captivity for the glory of His name.

Holy angels surround, guard, comfort and preserve the delivered, breaking the swords of pursuers, so that Satan and his angels lose power to harm even the weakest saint. Though unseen they encircle God's people in terrible anguish when there appears no escape, and the saints wrestle with God as Jacob did until He reveals His power. The wicked cannot understand the voice that brings deliverance while the delivered rejoice, and God's glory rests upon the righteous. The righteous have their lives preserved through this ministry, but those who neglect a known duty or an express command have no assurance of angelic protection from enemies.

God Himself as judge reverses earth's tribunals that condemned His children as criminals for refusing Satan's deceptive claims, gathering them from destitution, affliction, torment, imprisonment and death. He takes away their rebuke, pardons them with pardon written opposite their names in the book, removes their filthy garments and clothes them with Christ's righteousness in clean garments and fair mitre and white robes, naming them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. Those whose names are recorded in heaven cannot be overturned by Satan's attack as accuser seeking to surround and destroy them. They pass through anguish and danger sustained by divine power and grace, patiently waiting and struggling in prayer through appointed suffering until God manifests His power and turns their captivity, revealing the distinction between the righteous who serve God and the wicked.

The 144,000 triumph and endure the final outpouring without an intercessor, having washed their robes in the Lamb's blood and standing faultless before God. The faithful are translated from among the living without seeing death, honored for keeping His law and waiting for Him. Their faces are lighted by God's glory in the deliverance by His voice after the decree to kill the saints.

God's people are protected, though some may lose their lives for the truth. Whether they die then is not the chief concern, for they will soon live again. Sealed believers who die beforehand sleep in rest through the distress and are spared its suffering, and at the voice of God they rise to stand upon the earth with the 144,000, so such a death is good and gives no cause for mourning except for the living's loss of company. In mercy little children are taken away before that time comes.

After Jesus rises from the mediatorial throne and every case is decided, oppression and death coming to God's people are no longer a testimony in favor of the truth, and faithful deaths would no longer turn hardened hearts. Yet the delivered are not left to fall to enemies by starvation or violence, for God protects those whose names are written in the book of life. Even when obedience brings them to the gates of death they are safe with lives hidden with Christ in God, and in the fearful ordeal every true believer is to look up and by faith see God's promise surrounding them.

Through it they must live in God's sight without a High Priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary, their cases already decided, with the righteous remaining righteous and the unjust remaining unjust and no atoning blood or Mediator to change them. Those sealed and protected must fully reflect the image of Jesus. Those who neglected preparation will be without shelter and unable to receive the refreshing required to live in the sight of a holy God, for the latter rain does not replace it or make it up at the last moment.

Preparation for the Crisis

Daniel 12 together with Revelation is to be attentively studied and understood before the time of the end as instruction for the last days. It reveals the unprecedented trouble, the close of probation, and the character required to pass through the test and proving of the last days. The future concerning these events is opened as plainly as Christ opened His death and resurrection to the disciples, yet multitudes have no more understanding of them than if they had never been revealed, because Satan watches to catch away every impression, and as the disciples were unready when trial came, so the trouble will find multitudes unready. In severe trials every faith will be tested, when Satan invents every conceivable thing to make of none effect established points of faith and foundation principles greatly blessed in providence, and the old waymarks and past experiences are to be revived and held fast unto the end, with Daniel standing out conspicuously together with the Revelation given to John on Patmos. This warning rebukes living in spiritual weakness and backsliding and not knowing what one believes, and warns ministers who claim to believe truth while unsanctified through it that unless change comes they will say, My Lord delayeth His coming.

Preparation requires receiving the message and being sealed with the seal of the living God, which is the Sabbath in mind and heart, being purified, made white and tried, marked loyal to the commandments especially the fourth, and fully reflecting the image of Jesus in holiness. Michael's standing up marks the end of Christ's intercession after every case is decided and mercy no longer pleads for the guilty, placing the unparalleled trouble after the third message closes. When this time comes probation is closed with no further mercy for the impenitent, and God's sealed and prepared people, namely those whose names are written in the book, are delivered though the righteous must endure without an intercessor. Those sealed and protected through that time must be ready to live in God's sight without a High Priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary, and the faithful remnant must be purified through suffering before they see the King and dwell with God.

The courage, faith and trust needed do not come in a moment but through years of faithful living and firm resistance to temptation. That persevering faith to endure delay, hunger, weakness and severe trial must be exercised daily beforehand, and those who neglect preparation will be unready to stand. While Christ makes atonement people are to seek perfection in Him and learn His meekness and lowliness through providence, gaining an experience they do not yet possess, for neglecting or postponing this puts the soul in grave peril. The latter rain does not replace that preparation or make it up at the last moment, and those who neglected it will be without shelter and unable to receive the refreshing required to live in sight of a holy God. The suffering and steadfastness of early Christians in exile, dungeon and martyrdom, eagerly accepting light, will comfort and encourage God's people, and preparing them requires each person to do the work given and bear a clear decided testimony. In that ordeal each must stand for himself before God, for even the righteousness of Noah, Daniel or Job cannot deliver another, and no cherished sin can remain that Satan can use to gain a foothold.

Sins must go beforehand to judgment, confessed and forsaken at the sanctuary now and blotted out, or they will never go. Those whose sins remain unconfessed and unforgiven will be overwhelmed by despair and unable to plead for deliverance, with one uncovered sin crushing the soul and heaven giving no answer, while those whose sins have gone beforehand will have no concealed wrongs to reveal. That time will try souls with confusion and unfulfilled desires, and before the promised deliverance every sin of Israel must be confessed, for once sealed the subjects of grace are sealed for heaven and the work is almost finished. Those who stand must be separated from sin through faith in Christ's atoning blood, uniting weakness to His strength and cooperating with God in becoming like Him, free from cherished sin as Christ was free from anything Satan could use against Him. Neglecting this preparation puts souls in peril, for Satan must find no foothold.

Believers must be hid under the covering of Almighty God drawn over those decided on present truth during the sealing time, for in this sealing time those settled in truth and pure in heart are covered while those who waver are not ready to receive protection. Being hid means having the life hid with Christ in God with heart wholly given to God, that they may be hid in the day of the Lord's anger, and God's people must be all ready beforehand with courage and hope because better days come afterward. The trouble comes right after the four angels let go and is about to begin, so the work will be finished speedily and none can stand outside but must hide quickly beneath the covering for shelter. They must be clothed with Christ's righteousness and fortified by truth so Satan's deceptions are not mistaken for manifestations of God's power, meeting principalities and darkness with no self-esteem in Christ our righteousness. It comes when every case is fixed and there is no more proclamation, with commotion in heaven while mansions are about ready for heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, so self must be denied now to have a clearer mind to stand then.

They must now gain a new experience that gives assurance that the God of all grace is a present help in need, making sure feet are in the narrow path and asking the Lord Jesus to place His everlasting arms underneath and carry them through the strait places ahead as signs fast fulfill, for the unprecedented trouble since nations began is very near and right upon them. Readiness comes by living the life of faith day by day, living for the present and for this day only, maintaining victory over self today, living a life of prayer today, fighting the good fight of faith today, and believing God blesses today, and as victory is gained over darkness and unbelief the Master's requirements are met and life becomes a blessing to those around. This crisis will demand full consecration of everyone bearing Christ's name. It calls for waking from spiritual sleep, cultivating deep piety, repenting and becoming Christlike, praying three times a day, keeping courage and hope, with Christ beaming on the soul to remove pride, indolence and self-exaltation, seeking perfection in Him. Only genuine love of truth, not fright, will carry through, and neglect puts the soul in grave peril.

The trouble is not to be dreaded beforehand with anxiety and distress that only makes a time of trouble beforehand. That future trouble should not be met with continual fear of not standing then, nor kept constantly before people or urged upon them in a way that makes them go through it early or works them up to go through it beforehand. Those unready must not try to bring it on before its appointed time. Though a terrible crisis is right upon God's people with Satan working with intense power, gathering darkness to unite with evil men, drawing minds step by step under infatuation and blindness, with abounding iniquity, tottering nations, and all earthly safety and hopes shaken hopelessly to pieces, God's people must know this working and rise to the emergency while not making a trouble beforehand.

Those who neglect preparation will be without shelter and unable to receive the refreshing or make it up in the crisis, for before the plagues probation closes with the unjust remaining unjust and the righteous remaining righteous and no Mediator left to plead, and only those who have overcome sin and become holy can stand in God's presence. Before it comes people must receive the refreshing by gaining victory over sin and purifying souls through obedience to the whole truth, for at that time there will be no further opportunity to change. Only a deep living experience of godliness will save when work is tested, with work like gold, silver and precious stones hidden in the Lord's pavilion while nothing shields work like wood, hay and stubble from wrath. Present prosperity and adversity uncover falseness, pride and selfishness so they can be corrected, and the fires of affliction consume dross to purify God's people; if present trials cannot be borne there will be no strength to stand when God tries every man's work as by fire and lays bare secrets of all hearts. Those who have not made trust in God a habit are especially at risk of falling for deceptions and yielding to a decree compelling conscience, and even if they endure they will suffer more deeply because they must learn under discouragement the lessons neglected beforehand; those Satan holds wavering until sealing ends are left without protection and punished as sinners according to opportunities used to hinder the cause.

Practical Present Application

The nearness of a time of trouble unlike any since there was a nation gives urgency to soul-winning before Michael stands up and probation closes, requiring every opportunity within reach to be seen and seized without delay. God's people must be aroused from midnight slumber, indifference and inaction to become channels of light and earnest workers for salvation, planning day and night and laboring to win souls to Christ while that work can still be done. This means warning cities and villages, opening new fields, proclaiming the third angel's message and the warnings of the Bible, and faithfully doing assigned work while guarding against Satan's advantage. Those accepting that message now must learn its truths quickly so they can stand in the coming trial, able to hear and endure the full strong truth that purifies the heart. Souls are in peril with eternity at stake, and all must face what lies just ahead.

God's workers must not bring the appointed trouble before its time by careless or inflammatory courses, needless conflict with authorities and powers, or carrying issues such as the diet question too far. Building a wall of separation between themselves and the world, advancing personal ideas and notions, treating people as traitors, or cutting off and refusing the favors and means God moves unbelieving men, kings and rulers to give for the advancement of the cause hastens that trouble. While God's restraining hand is not yet withdrawn, they are to bide their time, hide in Christ, and move and work with great wisdom, cultivating strong active faith and implicit trust so they can stand when the peril and pressure arrive. Instead of provoking the crisis, they are to give the warning message with simple stirring teaching on faith and love to the large numbers still unreached, including those in nearby cities throughout the world.

Houses and lands will be of no use in the coming trouble and cannot then be disposed of, so believers must cut loose from every encumbrance beforehand and make a covenant with God by sacrifice, that they may be free with no clogs to weigh them down. Property held back despite duty to support the cause will rise like a mountain to crush its owners, who will mourn that while the cause languished they made no effort to supply the lack and now their possessions are useless, wishing they had let them go and laid up treasure in heaven. God does not require all to sell at once, but teaches those willing to be taught when to sell and how much as the cause needs, some having been required to sell in past time to sustain the Advent cause and others permitted to keep theirs until duty calls. Attachment to money and a covetous spirit hinder spiritual preparation, so possessions must not rule the heart but be used for God's cause as well as personal need. Because the final crisis is just ahead at earth's close, when Satan works with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, the fewer marriages contracted the better, and Christians above all must beware connecting with unbelievers, keeping feelings, impulses and affections flowing heavenward not earthward in sensual thought and indulgence, with every soul standing as in sight of the heart-searching God.

Parents stand in God's place to children and must faithfully correct passions and evil tempers now, for unruly indulged children left in impurity through neglect of home training will be exposed when God's judgments fall upon the impure and unholy and will curse their parents for that indulgence. In that trouble a destroying sword wielded by the destroying angel slays utterly old and young, men and women and little children, and the children of believing parents can be saved from it only if parents vigilantly subdue their passions and correct wrongs at once, suffering not a wrong in them for a moment. Many believing parents will see children cut down before their eyes because they were too tender, indulged evil propensities and tempers, and did not use the rod as they should, and God cannot cover iniquity; parents entrusted with that care must render an account if unfaithful. Children who might have been saved will be lost if parents fail in duty, and unfaithful parents will feel anguish seeing their own wither beneath the plagues unmixed with mercy because they rejected light and taught rebellion, while little children brought into the world will in mercy be taken away before that time comes.

A fearful conflict requiring all strength is just before God's people, and stern necessity will then require denial and eating merely enough to sustain life, but that severe need belongs to that future time, not the present. God will prepare His people for that hour, and their necessity then will be His opportunity to impart strengthening power and sustain them. Until then they must sustain physical powers and nourish strength, taking rest in body and mind when they can and eating nourishing food, laboring with hands at what is good, laying by in store as prospered, doing their part to sustain truth and, if not called to labor in word and doctrine, devoting time to proclaiming the way of life, and it does not glorify God to make a time of trouble for themselves by neglect. In view of trouble without parallel, Christian speech must avoid retaliation, defiance, railing accusations, and attacks on churches or individuals, studying and following Christ's methods, for these are not His way.

Troublous times and severe conflicts beyond anything dreamed are coming, with national commotions bringing scenes never before known, and faith will be tested and tried. That conflict must be met in perfect union, gaining a deep thorough experience in the things of God and not stopping short, for oneness is necessary to strength and salvation. Holding political views and principles not in harmony with God's Word and the principles of faith violates truth, freedom and holiness and separates from Sabbathkeeping Christians unless converted. In the coming confusion and danger, when restraint is withdrawn and death and destruction increase, the uplifted Saviour will be presented to people in every land and place, and all who look to Him in faith may live, as Israelites who looked at the raised bronze serpent lived.

That great day of trouble and conflict comes unexpectedly like a thief in the night, though how soon is unknown. Amid the danger God leads His people to a place of safety. People are to repent and prepare for that day.