At the transfiguration, Jesus was glorified
by His Father. We hear Him say: "Now is the Son of man glorified,
and God is glorified in Him." Thus before His betrayal and
crucifixion He was strengthened for His last dreadful sufferings.
As the members of the body of Christ approach the period of their
last conflict, "the time of Jacob's trouble," they
will grow up into Christ, and will partake largely of His spirit.
As the third message swells to a loud cry, and as great power
and glory attend the closing work, the faithful people of God
will partake of that glory. It is the latter rain which revives
and strengthens them to pass through the time of trouble. Their
faces will shine with the glory of that light which attends the
third angel.
I saw that God will in a wonderful manner
preserve His people through the time of trouble. As Jesus poured
out His soul in agony in the garden, they will earnestly cry
and agonize day and night for deliverance. The decree will go
forth that they must disregard the Sabbath
of the fourth commandment, and honor the first day, or lose their
lives; but they will not yield, and trample under their feet
the Sabbath of the Lord, and honor an institution of papacy.
Satan's host and wicked men will surround them, and exult over
them, because there will seem to be no way of escape for them.
But in the midst of their revelry and triumph, there is heard
peal upon peal of the loudest thunder. The heavens have gathered
blackness, and are only illuminated by the blazing light and
terrible glory from heaven, as God utters His voice from His
holy habitation.
The foundations of the earth shake; buildings
totter and fall with a terrible crash. The sea boils like a pot,
and the whole earth is in terrible commotion. The captivity of
the righteous is turned, and with sweet and solemn whisperings
they say to one another: "We are delivered. It is the voice
of God." With solemn awe they listen to the words of the
voice. The wicked hear, but understand not the words of the voice
of God. They fear and tremble, while the saints rejoice. Satan
and his angels, and wicked men, who had been exulting that the
people of God were in their power, that they might destroy them
from off the earth, witness the glory conferred upon those who
have honored the holy law of God. They behold the faces of the
righteous lighted up and reflecting the image of Jesus. Those
who were so eager to destroy the saints cannot endure the glory
resting upon the delivered ones, and they fall like dead men
to the earth. Satan and evil angels flee from the presence of
the saints glorified. Their power to annoy them is gone forever.