“A glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).

Revelation 19:7, 8 refers to the fact that His church makes herself ready by preparing to meet Him in peace.

“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6). In John 15:1–3, Jesus explains that we are made “clean through the word.” The apostle Paul reiterates this point in Ephesians 5:26 with the phrase “washing of water by the word.” And Peter refers to the believers as having “purified your souls in obeying the truth”(1 Peter 1:22). These “have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

“As faith . . . receives and assimilates the principles of truth, they become a part of the being and the motive power of the life. The word of God, received into the soul, molds the thoughts, and enters into the development of character.

“By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature.”1

“The law is an expression of the thought of God; when received in Christ, it becomes our thought. It lifts us above the power of natural desires and tendencies, above temptations that lead to sin.”2

“The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life.”3

“He will thoroughly purge his floor.” “The church must be purged, and it will be.”4 “The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.”5

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “upon this rock I will build my church,” identified by the apostle as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). (See also Revelation 14:1–5.) “Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined.”6

“Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession.”7

When Jesus spoke of the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood (John 6:53–57), some failed to understand the spiritual nature of what He was illustrating and “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (verse 66).

In reference to the widespread reaction to this controversial statement of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy writes: “This was one of the times of purging. By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus. Many are still doing the same thing. Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see that their lives are not in accordance with the will of God. They see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered. They go away offended, even as the disciples left Jesus, murmuring, ‘This is an hard saying; who can hear it?’ (John 6:60).”8

“When Jesus presented the testing truth that caused so many of His disciples to turn back, He knew what would be the result of His words; but He had a purpose of mercy to fulfill. He foresaw that in the hour of temptation every one of His beloved disciples would be severely tested. His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and crucifixion, would be to them a most trying ordeal. Had no previous test been given, many who were actuated by merely selfish motives would have been connected with them. . . . In that hour of darkness, the example of those who turned from Him might have carried others with them. But Jesus brought about this crisis while by His personal presence He could still strengthen the faith of His true followers.”9

The harvest is in progress. “In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares. . . . The reapers are the angels” (Matthew 13:30, 39).

The Spirit of Prophecy identifies the specific work of the third angel of Revelation 14: “I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.’ ”10

The reapers are bidden, “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles” (Matthew 13:30). These bundles are confederacies, against which we are warned: “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid” (Isaiah 8:12).

“[Trade] unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned.”11 “I saw a number of companies that seemed to be bound together by cords.”12

“Then I heard a voice saying to those who had been pushed and derided, ‘Come out from among them, and touch not the unclean’ (2 Corinthians 6:17). In obedience to this voice, a large number broke the cords which bound them.”13

Thus we see that a separation is needed from those who are bound in the synagogue of Satan. Addressing His beloved ones in the Philadelphia church, Jesus says, ‘Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee’ (Revelation 3:9). When the 144,000 are all sealed and perfectly united, the Spirit of Prophecy writes, “Then it was that the synagogue of Satan knew that God had loved us who could wash one another’s feet and salute the brethren with a holy kiss, and they worshiped at our feet.”14

“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil” (Revelation 2:2).

“I saw a little company traveling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, bound together by the truth.”15 This body that grows in the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:14–16) is like unto that depicted in the statement: “‘The third angel is binding, or sealing, them in bundles for the heavenly garner.’”16 “Those who have been obedient to God’s commandments will unite with the company of the saints in light.”17

“The harvest is the end of probationary time.”18 Many people misinterpret this statement to mean the absolute finish of probationary time, but you cannot harvest when probation is closed. When the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 24:3, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus proceeded to tell them about the signs in nature and events which would begin taking place at least two centuries before the very end. The prophet Daniel was told to “seal the book, even to the time of the end” (12:4). In Revelation 10:6 this is referred to as the hour when “time shall be no longer” or, “no more prophetic time.”19

The entrance of sin into the world marked the beginning of probationary time. We are now living near the end of probationary time—the era of investigative judgment. “The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares.”20 “I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. . . . Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past.”21 “Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter!”22 Such will sadly declare, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20).

“Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time and place must be considered.”23

In 1850, the Spirit of Prophecy declared that “the mighty shaking has commenced and will go on, and all will be shaken out who are not willing to take a bold and unyielding stand for the truth and to sacrifice for God and His cause.”24

In 1855: “As we near the judgment, all will manifest their true character, and it will be made plain to what company they belong. The sieve is moving. Let us not say: Stay Thy hand, O God. The church must be purged, and it will be.”25

“God is sifting His people. He will have a clean and holy church. We cannot read the heart of man. But the Lord has provided means to keep the church pure. A corrupt people has arisen who could not live with the people of God. They despised reproof and would not be corrected. They had an opportunity to know that theirs was an unrighteous warfare. They had time to repent of their wrongs; but self was too dear to die. They nourished it, and it grew strong, and they separated from the trusting people of God, whom He is purifying unto Himself. We all have reason to thank God that a way has been opened to save the church; for the wrath of God must have come upon us if these corrupt pretenders had remained with us.”26

In 1858: “The third angel is leading out and purifying a people, and they should move with him unitedly. . . . I saw that the angels of God would lead His people no faster than they could receive and act upon the important truths that are communicated to them.”27

Truth. “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved”(John 3:20). “By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat.”28