they had ignorantly transgressed this
precept by disregarding the Creator's rest-day. They began to examine the
reasons for observing the first day of the week instead of the day which
God had sanctified. They could find no evidence in the Scriptures that the
fourth commandment had been abolished, or that the Sabbath had been
changed; the blessing which first hallowed the seventh day had never been
removed. They had been honestly seeking to know and to do God's will; now,
as they saw themselves transgressors of His law, sorrow filled their
hearts, and they manifested their loyalty to God by keeping His Sabbath
holy.

Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their faith. None
could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuary was a figure or pattern of
the heavenly, the law deposited in the ark on earth was an exact
transcript of the law in the ark in heaven; and that an acceptance of the
truth concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved an acknowledgment of the
claims of God's law, and the obligation of the Sabbath of the fourth
commandment. Here was the secret of the bitter and determined opposition
to the harmonious exposition of the Scriptures that revealed the
ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Men sought to close the
door which God had opened, and to open the door which He had closed. But
"He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth,"
had declared, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can
shut it."(720) Christ had opened the door, or ministration, of the most
holy place, light was shining from that open door of the sanctuary in
heaven, and the fourth commandment was shown to be included in the law
which is there enshrined; what God had established, no man could
overthrow.

Those who had accepted the light concerning the mediation of Christ and
the perpetuity of the law of God, found that these were the truths
presented in Revelation 14. The messages of this chapter constitute a
threefold warning,(721) which is to prepare the inhabitants of the earth
for the Lord's second coming. The announcement, "The hour of His judgment
is come," points to the closing work of Christ's ministration for the
salvation of men. It heralds a truth which must be proclaimed until the
Saviour's intercession shall cease, and He shall return to the earth to
take His people to Himself. The work of judgment which began in 1844, must
continue until the cases of all are deci