The Test That Will Come to All

The test will come to everyone. People will be urged to observe the false sabbath. The contest will be between the commandments of God and mere human laws. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and customs will yield to the earthly powers rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. The distinction will be clear between true godliness and 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.RR 66.6

Scattered in every land are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven that appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine out 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 many chosen ones in reserve who will yet shine brightly in the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. In the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan makes his supreme effort to cause “all,” under penalty of death, to receive the sign of loyalty to a false sabbath, these faithful ones, “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault,” will “shine as lights in the world.” Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15. The darker the night, the more brilliantly they will shine.RR 67.1

Elijah could count only one on the Lord’s side when he said, “I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” But the word of the Lord surprised him: “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal.” 1 Kings 19:14, 18.RR 67.2

Then let no one 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.RR 67.3