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Last Day Events
the divine permission, to spread desolation everywhere.—
The Great
Controversy, 614
(1911).
The First Two Plagues
When Christ ceases His intercession in the sanctuary, the unmin-
gled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast and his
image and receive his mark (
Revelation 14:9, 10
), will be poured out.
The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel, were
similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments
which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of
God’s people. Says the revelator, in describing those terrific scourges:
“There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” The sea
“became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the
sea” [
Revelation 16:2, 3
].—
The Great Controversy, 627, 628
(1911).
The plagues were falling upon the inhabitants of the earth. Some
were denouncing God and cursing Him. Others rushed to the people
of God and begged to be taught how they might escape His judgments.
But the saints had nothing for them. The last tear for sinners had been
shed, the last agonizing prayer offered, the last burden borne, the last
warning given.—
Early Writings, 281
(1858).
[245]
The Third Plague
I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’
work was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last
plagues. These plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous; they
thought that we had brought the judgments of God upon them and that
if they could rid the earth of us the plagues would then be stayed. A
decree went forth to slay the saints, which caused them to cry day and
night for deliverance.—
Early Writings, 36, 37
(1851).
And “the rivers and fountains of waters ... became blood.” Terrible
as these inflictions are, God’s justice stands fully vindicated. The angel
of God declares: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, ... because Thou hast
judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and
Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy” (
Revelation
16:2-6
). By condemning the people of God to death, they have as