Michael comes in importunate prayer

“And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it.” (Eze. 1:26).

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1,2).

God takes a long time to rescue us from difficult circumstances and interpersonal conflicts.

We believe we shouldn’t have to endure them any longer. We can’t easily conclude that they are for our sanctification. Our motives aren’t pure. Our lives are not faultless. We are to some degree complicit in the conflicts. “They have sinned” is the adversaries’ rightful claim for abusing God’s people. “All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.” (Jer. 50:7). That was true of God’s people anciently. Could it be just as true of God’s people today?

We have only seen the leading edge of the storm front. It will “purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:3). There is grievous purifying still to come that will “make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:12). “But who may abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?” (Mal. 3:3).

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” (Rev. 7:13-15).

Why do bad things happen to good people? Because “none is good, save one, that is, God.” (Luke 18:19).

“There is none righteous, no, not one: 

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10-12).

But,“consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: 

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:3-6).

As much as we might deny it, we are all gone out of the way. We are all become unprofitable. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18). But, we are not there. Not yet.

We need our curses of the Law. We need our plagues, as they really are good and perfect gifts sent from the Father of glory in whom is neither variableness nor shadow of turning. And in the end Christ will have a group that has been chastened and scourged, humbled and purified.

Alarmed and quickened by fear, the elect virgins awaiting their Lord awoke. During peacetime, their concerns of judgment day didn’t cause their conscience much a do. But now, in God’s mercy, signs of the times are raising their ugly heads. They have opened the Testimonies for the Church. They have stood before the perfect Law of liberty via the only reputable prophet, who was the only modern mediator of the investigative judgment covenant with God. The ten virgins have finally gotten down to the Bridegroom’s business. 

They have admitted to their flaws and deformations of character. They have accepted the barbed arrows of conviction from the prophets of the Lord. The scalpel sharp, two-edged word of God has cut both ways deeply into the intents and motives of their hearts, and exposed their every defilement. All their comeliness has been turned into corruption. But, what to do with all these vile and disgusting traits that are as putrid as bile?

Their countenances pale, and marked with deep anxiety, have expressed their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness has been on their countenances; large drops of perspiration have fallen from their foreheads. They have confessed and cried out for deliverance from their exceedingly sinful, rotting characters. The straight razor with a sealing edge, that straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans, has had its effect upon the heart of the receivers, and led them to exalt the standard to themselves and to cry out in deep repentance. With strong faith and agonizing cries have they pled with God. And they obtain the victory.

However, some of these virgins would not go to the investigative judgment’s prophet. The foolish virgins would not “participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud.” Early Writings, p. 270.1.

“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” (Dan. 12:1).

“I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire: 

And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, 

And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 

And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices,

And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to heaven, 

And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished.” (Rev. 10:1-7).

Said in another way, “When He shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” (Dan. 12:7).

As our prophetic proxy, John plays the 144,000’s part in arising from their fifth trumpet stupor and sixth trumpet desolation to give the Loud Cry of the Latter Rain.

“And I went unto the Angel, and said unto Him, Give me the little book. And He said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 

And I took the little book out of the Angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 

And He said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” (Rev. 10:9-11).

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads. 

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 

And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” (Rev. 14:1-3).

They receive their three angels’ recommissioning. They have accepted the exalted standard and have bowed their pride and repented in deep sorrow. Interpersonal conflicts have all disappeared. Now they can avenge all disobedience because their obedience is fulfilled. They must pour forth the straight truth and exalt the standard before the people of God before they can preach the full gospel for a witness to all nations one final time. “I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect.” Early Writings, p. 271.2. Then many sprinkled around the globe will say, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). And “a large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.” Great Controversy, p. 612.2.

“From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.” (Isa. 24:16).

But the multitudes, nations, tongues, and peoples will be angry, especially the vile king of the north, who is Satan, the Beast, and his puppet, the false prophet, all three combined. The 144,000 will have a song to sing until their fiery furnace when with almost superhuman power the wicked forces of deception turn against them a WWIII. The sweetness of the everlasting gospel will turn sour in the backlash.

“But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” (Isa. 24:16).

“And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” (Dan. 12:1).

They must pass through their own Gethsemane, which their Master passed through. It is the time of Jacob’s troubles. “A tall, commanding angel...said, ‘They must drink of the cup. They must be baptized with the baptism.’” Early Writings, p. 272.2.

They have survived the persecution such as never was. They have endured the blasts of  Beast and false prophet retinues, and they have held on to the truth. They have drunk of their Lord’s Gethsemane cup. They have kept “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev. 14:12). Here has been the secret of the saints’ patience. They have kept the faith and therefore know that they have a crown of righteousness that the righteous Judge will give them on the day of His long looked-for appearing.

Then they will sing another song, as if on the far side of the Red Sea. Probation has closed and they have obtained the victory over sin and the tempter.

“I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. 

Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.” (Rev. 15:2-4).

“Soon I heard the voice of God, which shook the heavens and the earth. There was a mighty earthquake. Buildings were shaken down on every side. I then heard a triumphant shout of victory, loud, musical, and clear. I looked upon the company, who, a short time before, were in such distress and bondage. Their captivity was turned. A glorious light shone upon them. How beautiful they then looked! All marks of care and weariness were gone, and health and beauty were seen in every countenance. Their enemies, the heathen around them, fell like dead men; they could not endure the light that shone upon the delivered, holy ones. This light and glory remained upon them, until Jesus was seen in the clouds of heaven, and the faithful, tried company were changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from glory to glory. And the graves were opened, and the saints came forth, clothed with immortality, crying, “Victory over death and the grave”; and together with the living saints they were caught up to meet their Lord in the air, while rich, musical shouts of glory and victory were upon every immortal tongue.” Early Writings, p. 272.3.

“It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (Isa. 25:9).

“And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. 12:1).

And the whole process leading to Christ’s return all started with the adversaries we face in our present life, importunate prayer today for patience, our admission to culpability in today’s interpersonal conflicts, with the pardon and justification, and with new heart and new spirit all of which we receive through His grace today. Heretofore we have disregarded the end-time prophet, Ellen G. White. We have done the same to our messenger from the Lord as the Israelites and Jews did to theirs.

“The LORD hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. 

They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever: 

And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. 

Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard My words, 

Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. 

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 

And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.” (Jer. 25:4-12).

At the beginning of our sanctification Jesus could do nothing until we owned up to our part in our vile condition. And any progress we made then were amplified by the first waves of end-time trouble. Now, fully consecrated to eternal service to the holy God, we are no longer His enemies, in any respect. Jesus can deliver us at His coming in power and great glory.

“See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand. 

For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 

If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me. 

I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 

Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people.” (Deut. 32:39-43).

“Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7,8).