A Power Overrides the Affairs of Men

It was this that the prophet Ezekiel saw when before his astonished gaze were portrayed symbols that revealed a Power overruling the affairs of earthly rulers. Wheels intersecting one another were moved by four living beings. High above all these “was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form.” Ezekiel 1:26, RSV.SS 277.2

The wheels, so complicated that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion, moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings were impelling those wheels. The complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations He that sits above the cherubim still guides the affairs of this earth. To every nation and individual God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.SS 278.1

The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His Word tell us where we are in the procession of the ages. All that prophecy has foretold until the present time has been traced on the pages of history, and all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.SS 278.2

The signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. The Saviour prophesied of events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars ... . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matthew 24:6, 7. Rulers and statesmen recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.SS 278.3

The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of events that already are casting their shadows before, the sound of their approach causing the earth to tremble and men's hearts to fail them for fear. “Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.” “For they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.” Isaiah 24:1, 5, 6, RSV.SS 278.4

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” Jeremiah 30:7.SS 278.5

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
Even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee,
Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Psalm 91:9, 10

God will not fail His church in the hour of her greatest peril. He has promised deliverance. The principles of His kingdom will be honored by all beneath the sun.SS 279.1