From Splendor to Shadow

The Test That Will Come to All

The test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who are not clothed with Christ's righteousness will appear in the shame of their nakedness. SS 99.2

Scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven, which appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine forth when darkness covers the earth. In Africa, in Europe, in South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. In the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan's supreme effort is made to cause “all” to receive, under penalty of death, the sign of allegiance to a false day, these faithful ones, “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish,” will “shine as lights in the world.” Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15, RSV. The darker the night, the more brilliantly will they shine. SS 100.1

Elijah could count only one on the Lord's side when he said: “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life.” But the word of the Lord surprised him: “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, ... which have not bowed unto Baal.” 1 Kings 19:14, 18. SS 100.2

Then let no man attempt to number Israel today, but let everyone have a heart like the heart of Christ, a heart that reaches out for the salvation of a lost world. SS 100.3