The Beginning of the End

[devotional at egwlists.whiteestate.org]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for July 27
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The Beginning of the End

Evil on evil! says the Lord the Eternal--it is coming, the hour has
come, the hour is striking, and striking at you, the hour and the end!
Eze. 7:5, 6, Moffatt. 


Fearful is the issue to which the world is to be brought. The powers of
earth, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will decree that
all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," shall conform
to the customs of the church by observance of the false sabbath. All who
refuse compliance will be visited with civil penalties, and it will
finally be declared that they are deserving of death. On the other hand,
the law of God enjoining the Creator's rest day demands obedience, and
threatens wrath against all who transgress its precepts. 

With the issue thus clearly brought before him, whosoever shall trample
upon God's law to obey a human enactment, receives the mark of the
beast; he accepts the sign of allegiance to the power which he chooses
to obey instead of God. . . . 

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it is the point of
truth especially controverter. When the final test shall be brought to
bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those
who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the
false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the
fourth commandment, will be an avowal of an allegiance to a power that
is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience
to God's law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class,
by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark
of the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine
authority, receive the seal of God. 

Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third angel's message
have been often regarded as mere alarmists. . . . But as the question of
enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the event so long
doubted and disbelieved is seen to be approaching, and the third message
will produce an effect which it could not have had before.

>From Maranatha - Page 215