He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. Revelation 2:26.
(SD 366.1)
It was our Lord Himself who promised His disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” It was the compassionate Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of His followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the assurance that He would come again in person, even as He went into heaven. As the disciples stood gazing intently upward to catch the last glimpse of Him whom they loved, their attention was arrested by the words, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Hope was kindled afresh by the angel’s message. The disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” They were not rejoicing because Jesus had been separated from them, and they were left to struggle with the trials and temptations of the world, but because of the angel’s assurance that He would come again.
(SD 366.2)
The proclamation of Christ’s coming should now be, as when made by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, good tidings of great joy. Those who really love the Saviour cannot but hail with gladness the announcement founded upon the Word of God, that He in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered, is coming again, not to be insulted, despised, and rejected, as at His first advent, but in power and glory, to redeem His people.50
(SD 366.3)
The gospel is to advance from conquest to conquest, from victory to victory. The greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, and they shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever and ever.51
(SD 366.4)