{Chapter 1: The Destruction of Jerusalem}
Please be advised to read the whole book of the Great Controversy to get Context.
#1
Not far distant was Calvary, the place of crucifixion.
Upon the path which Christ was soon to tread must fall
the horror of great darkness as He should make His
soul an offering for sin.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 18
#2
There daily the blood of slain lambs had been offered,
pointing forward to the Lamb of God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 19
#3
Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to
Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the
elect of God. Jeremiah 17:21-25.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 19
#4
They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their
privileges, and slighted their opportunities.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 19
#5
When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed,
He sent to them the best gift of heaven; nay, He
poured out all heaven in that one Gift.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 19
#6
Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred
for His love (Psalm 109:5), He had steadfastly
pursued His mission of mercy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 20
#7
A homeless wanderer, reproach and penury His
daily lot, He lived to minister to the needs
and lighten the woes of men, to plead with
them to accept the gift of life.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 20
#8
But Israel had turned from her best Friend
and only Helper. The pleadings of His love
had been despised, His counsels spurned, His
warnings ridiculed.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 20
#9
The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of God's long-deferred wrath was almost
full. The cloud that had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, now black with
woe, was about to burst upon a guilty people; and He who alone could save them from their
impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 20-21
#10
Divine pity, yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not!"
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#11
O that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known the time of thy visitation, and the
things that belong unto thy peace! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called thee to
repentance, but in vain.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#12
It is not merely servants, delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and rejected,
but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#13
Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and
hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#14
He was willing to pour out His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach; but few
would come to Him that they might have life.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#15
That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it
is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law
of God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22
#16
Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar
to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection
of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the
foundation of His government in heaven and earth.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 22-23
#17
The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin,
slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of
truth in their day of visitation.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 23
#18
The Shekinah no longer abode between the cherubim in the most holy place; the ark, the
mercy seat, and the tables of the testimony were not to be found therein.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 24
#19
The second temple was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with the living
presence of One in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily-who was God Himself manifest in
the flesh.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 24
#20
The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while foreshadowing the
destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 25
#21
When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which
extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find
safety in flight.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 26
#22
When the warning sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 26
#23
Throughout the land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must
be immediately obeyed.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 26
#24
Those who were working in the fields or vineyards must not take time to return for
the outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the heat of the day.
They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 26
#25
Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stubborn unbelief
rendered her doom certain.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 26
#26
While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God's law, they were transgressing all its
principles.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 27
#27
The children were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but when, with a knowledge
of all the light given to their parents, the children rejected the additional light
granted to themselves, they became partakers of the parents' sins, and filled up the
measure of their iniquity.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 28
#28
In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus they rejected the last offer of mercy.
Then God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and
his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 28
#29
Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason;
they were beyond reason-controlled by impulse and blind rage.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 28
#30
By their actions they had long been saying: "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from
before us." Isaiah 30:11. Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer
disturbed them.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 28
#31
To establish their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even
while Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to wait for
deliverance from God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 29
#32
All the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews
experienced the truth of His words of warning: "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
Matthew 7:2.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 29
#33
The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly be shut by a score of
men, and which was secured by immense was at the head of the nation, and the highest
civil and religious bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone, opened
at midnight, without visible agency.- Milman, The History of the Jews, book 13.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30
#34
This strange being was imprisoned and scourged, but no complaint escaped his lips.
To insult and abuse he answered only: "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" "woe, woe to the inhabitants
thereof!" His warning cry ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30
#35
Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30
#36
Christ had given His disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the
promised sign. "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies," said Jesus, "then
know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to
the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out." Luke 21:20, 21.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30
#37
The besieged, despairing of successful resistance, were on the point of surrender,
when the Roman general withdrew his forces without the least apparent reason. But God's
merciful providence was directing events for the good of His own people. The promised sign
had been given to the waiting Christians, and now an opportunity was offered for all who
would, to obey the Saviour's warning.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30
#38
Upon the retreat of Cestius, the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, pursued after his
retiring army; and while both forces were thus fully engaged, the Christians had an
opportunity to leave the city.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 30-31
#39
Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by Titus.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 31
#40
So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 31
#41
Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their
husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 31-32
#42
Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful scene, and thus have spared Jerusalem
the full measure of her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the bodies of the dead
lying in heaps in the valleys.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 32
#43
In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple; One greater than he had declared that
not one stone was to be left upon another.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 33
#44
Thousands upon thousands of Jews perished. Above the sound of battle, voices were heard
shouting: "Ichabod!"-the glory is departed.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 33
#45
Both the city and the temple were razed to their foundations, and the ground upon
which the holy house had stood was "plowed like a field." Jeremiah 26:18.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 35
#46
By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection
of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according
to his will.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 35-36
#47
We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy.
It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under
the control of Satan.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#48
The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and
long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#49
But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#50
God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression;
but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#51
Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged,
every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#52
The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then
there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from
the malice and enmity of Satan.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#53
The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to
have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36
#54
...what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God
shall be wholly withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human
passion and satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the results
of Satan's rule.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 36-37
#55
But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered,
everyone that shall be found written among the living. Isaiah 4:3.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 37
#56
Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of Christ. As
He warned His disciples of Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a sign of the
approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has warned the world of the day
of final destruction and has given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may flee
from the wrath to come.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 37
#57
They that heed the warning shall not be left in darkness, that that day should
overtake them unawares. But to them that will not watch, "the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 37-38
#58
Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life
is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business,
in traffic, in moneymaking; when religious leaders are magnifying the world's progress
and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security-then, as the midnight
thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the
careless and ungodly,"and they shall not escape." Verse 3.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 38