Signs of Christ’s Soon Return
19
his power, ambition, or caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain
is drawn aside, and we behold, above, behind, and through all the
play and counterplay of human interest and power and passions, the
agencies of the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the
counsels of His own will.—
Prophets and Kings, 499, 500
(c. 1914).
Heaven’s Regard for Earth’s Affairs
In sparing the life of the first murderer, God presented before the
whole universe a lesson bearing upon the great controversy.... It was
His purpose, not merely to put down the rebellion, but to demonstrate
to all the universe the nature of rebellion....The holy inhabitants of
other worlds were watching with the deepest interest the events taking
place on the earth....
God carries with Him the sympathy and approval of the whole
universe as step by step His great plan advances to its complete
fulfillment.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 78, 79
(1890).
The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not
only make heaven accessible to men, but before all the universe it
would justify God and His son in their dealing with the rebellion of
Satan.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 68, 69
(1890).
The whole universe is watching with inexpressible interest the clos-
ing scenes of the great controversy between good and evil.—
Prophets
and Kings, 148
(c. 1914).
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Our little world is the lesson book of the universe.—
The Desire of
Ages, 19
(1898). [
Ellen White states that the unfallen worlds and the
heavenly angels watched Christ’s struggle in Gethsemane “with intense
interest” (DA 693). In discussing Christ’s four-thousand-year battle
with Satan and his ultimate victory on the cross she uses such phrases
as “the heavenly universe beheld,” “all heaven and the unfallen worlds
had been witnesses,” “they heard,” “they saw,” “heaven viewed,” “what
a sight for the heavenly universe!” See
The Desire of Ages, 693, 759,
760
.]
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