18
Last Day Events
God has a purpose in permitting these calamities to occur. They
are one of His means of calling men and women to their senses. By
unusual workings through nature God will express to doubting human
agencies that which He clearly reveals in His Word.—
Manuscript
Releases 19:279
(1902).
How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruc-
tion by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently
these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated
forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man, but in them all
God’s purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He
seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger.—
Prophets
and Kings, 277
(c. 1914).
Coming Events Are in the Hands of the Lord
[29]
The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events
is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of
nations as well as the concerns of His church in His own charge.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:753
(1889).
These symbolical representations [the fiery serpents in the wilder-
ness] serve a double purpose. From them God’s people learn not
only that the physical forces of the earth are under the control of the
Creator, but also that under His control are the religious movements of
the nations. Especially is this true with reference to the enforcement
of Sunday observance.—
Manuscript Releases 19:281
(1902).
In the great closing work we shall meet with perplexities that we
know not how to deal with, but let us not forget that the three great
Powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and
that God will bring His purposes to pass.—
Evangelism, 65
(1902).
As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the
hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of
human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of
nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the
earth. [See
Ezekiel 1:4, 26
;
10:8
;
Daniel 4:17, 25, 32
.]—
Education,
178
(1903).
In the annals of human history, the growth of nations, the rise and
fall of empires, appear as if dependent on the will and prowess of man;
[30]
the shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by