Early Writings
by Ellen G. White
The Mark of the Beast
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The pope has thought to change the very
commandment that was given to cause man
to remember his Creator.
Illustration ©
Review and Herald Publ. Assoc. |
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In a view given June 27, 1850, my accompanying angel said,
"Time is almost finished. Do you reflect the lovely image of Jesus as you
should?" Then I was pointed to the earth and saw that there would have to
be a getting ready among those who have of late embraced the third angel's
message. Said the angel, "Get ready, get ready, get ready. Ye will have to
die a greater death to the world than ye have ever yet died." I saw that
there was a great work to do for them and but little time in which to do it. {EW 64.1}
Then I saw that the seven last plagues were soon to be
poured out upon those who have no shelter; yet the world regarded them no more
than they would so many drops of water that were about to fall. I was then made
capable of enduring the awful sight of the seven last plagues, the wrath of
God. I saw that His anger was dreadful and terrible, and if He should stretch
forth His hand, or lift it in anger, the inhabitants of the world would be as
though they had never been, or would suffer from incurable sores and withering [65]
plagues that would come upon them, and they would find no deliverance, but be
destroyed by them. Terror seized me, and I fell upon my face before the angel
and begged of him to cause the sight to be removed, to hide it from me, for it
was too dreadful. Then I realized, as never before, the importance of searching
the Word of God carefully, to know how to escape the plagues which that Word
declares shall come on all the ungodly who shall worship the beast and his
image and receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands. It was a great
wonder for me that any could transgress the law of God and tread down His holy
Sabbath, when such awful threatenings and denunciations were against them. {EW 64.2}
The pope has changed the day of rest from the seventh to the
first day. He has thought to change the very commandment that was given to
cause man to remember his Creator. He has thought to change the greatest
commandment in the decalogue and thus make himself equal with God, or even
exalt himself above God. The Lord is unchangeable, therefore His law is
immutable; but the pope has exalted himself above God, in seeking to change His
immutable precepts of holiness, justice, and goodness. He has trampled
underfoot God's sanctified day, and, on his own authority, put in its place one
of the six laboring days. The whole nation has followed after the beast, and
every week they rob God of His holy time. The pope has made a breach in the
holy law of God, but I saw that the time had fully come for this breach to be
made up by the people of God and the waste places built up. {EW 65.1}
I pleaded before the angel for God to save His people who
had gone astray, to save them for His mercy's sake. When the plagues begin to
fall, those who continue to break the holy Sabbath will not open their mouths
to plead those excuses that they now make [66] to get
rid of keeping it. Their mouths will be closed while the plagues are falling,
and the great Lawgiver is requiring justice of those who have had His holy law
in derision and have called it "a curse to man,"
"miserable," and "rickety." When such feel the iron grasp
of this law taking hold of them, these expressions will appear before them in
living characters, and they will then realize the sin of having that law in
derision which the Word of God calls "holy, just, and good."
{EW 65.2}
Then I was pointed to the glory of heaven, to the treasure
laid up for the faithful. Everything was lovely and glorious. The angels would
sing a lovely song, then they would cease singing and take their crowns from
their heads and cast them glittering at the feet of the lovely Jesus, and with
melodious voices cry, "Glory, Alleluia!" I joined with them in their
songs of praise and honor to the Lamb, and every time I opened my mouth to
praise Him, I felt an unutterable sense of the glory that surrounded me. It was
a far more, an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Said the angel, "The
little remnant who love God and keep His commandments and are faithful to the
end will enjoy this glory and ever be in the presence of Jesus and sing with
the holy angels." {EW
66.1}
Then my eyes were taken from the glory, and I was pointed to
the remnant on the earth. The angel said to them, "Will ye shun the seven
last plagues? Will ye go to glory and enjoy all that God has prepared for those
who love Him and are willing to suffer for His sake? If so, ye must die that ye
may live. Get ready, get ready, get ready. Ye must have a greater preparation than
ye now have, for the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce
anger, to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Sacrifice all to God. Lay all upon His altar—self, [67]
property, and all, a living sacrifice. It will take all to enter glory. Lay up
for yourselves treasure in heaven, where no thief can approach or rust corrupt.
Ye must be partakers of Christ's sufferings here if ye would be partakers with
Him of His glory hereafter." {EW 66.2}
Heaven will be cheap enough, if we obtain it through
suffering. We must deny self all along the way, die to self daily, let Jesus
alone appear, and keep His glory continually in view. I saw that those who of
late have embraced the truth would have to know what it is to suffer for
Christ's sake, that they would have trials to pass through that would be keen
and cutting, in order that they may be purified and fitted through suffering to
receive the seal of the living God, pass through the time of trouble, see the
King in His beauty, and dwell in the presence of God and of pure, holy angels. {EW 67.1}
As I saw what we must be in order to inherit glory, and then
saw how much Jesus had suffered to obtain for us so rich an inheritance, I
prayed that we might be baptized into Christ's sufferings, that we might not
shrink at trials, but bear them with patience and joy, knowing what Jesus had
suffered that we through His poverty and sufferings might be made rich. Said
the angel, "Deny self; ye must step fast." Some of us have had time
to get the truth and to advance step by step, and every step we have taken has
given us strength to take the next. But now time is almost finished, and what
we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months. They will
also have much to unlearn and much to learn again. Those who would not receive
the mark of the beast and his image when the decree goes forth, must have
decision now to say, Nay, we will not regard the institution of
the beast. {EW 67.2}
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