“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”Isaiah 60:2.
(HP 313.1)
This age presents a sad picture to those whose eyes have been opened to discern the evils that prevail on every hand. The fear and love of God have almost left the world. This is the time prophesied of by Isaiah, when “darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.”Isaiah 60:2. Multitudes are led away by the delusions of a faithless generation and are living in the darkness of error....
(HP 313.2)
The baleful spirit of unbelief is found in every land and is permeating all ranks of society. It is taught freely in many of the universities, colleges, and high schools, and it comes even into the lessons taught in the common schools and the nurseries. Thousands who profess to be Christians give heed to lying spirits....
(HP 313.3)
The world today is in crying need of a revelation of Christ Jesus in the person of His saints. God desires that His people shall stand before the world a holy people. Why? Because there is a world to be saved by the light of gospel truth; and as the message of truth that is to call men out of darkness into God’s marvelous light is given by the church, the lives of its members, sanctified by the Spirit of truth, are to bear witness to the verity of the messages proclaimed....
(HP 313.4)
The world is in need of a demonstration of practical Christianity. In view of the fact that those who claim to be followers of Christ are a spectacle to an unbelieving world, it behooves them to make sure that they are in right relation to God.... In order to stand as lights in the world, they need to have the clear light of the Sun of Righteousness constantly shining upon them....
(HP 313.5)
When God’s people so fully separate themselves from evil that He can let the light of heaven rest upon them in rich measure, and shine forth from them to the world, then there will be fulfilled more fully than it has ever been fulfilled in the past the prophecy of Isaiah, ... “The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.... The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the force of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Isaiah 60:3-5).—The Review and Herald, March 31, 1910.
(HP 313.6)