Chapter 9—The “Balls Of Fire” Visions—“The Destruction” July 1, 1904 / August 24, 1906

Theology has been defined as the study of God, and theologians of analytical bent have systematized this inquiry by dividing it into component subspecializations, much as a housewife might cut a pie into a number of wedge-shaped slices before serving.GVEGW 122.1

For example, Christology deals with the doctrine of God in Christ. Pneumatology is concerned with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Soteriology focuses upon the doctrine of salvation. Eschatology examines the doctrine of “last things,” and so on.GVEGW 122.2

Seventh-day Adventists, from earliest times, have had a compelling, even a consuming, interest in eschatology. Indeed, their corporate name draws attention to two of their chief (“pillar”) doctrines—the seventh-day Sabbath and the second coming of the Lord of the Sabbath.GVEGW 122.3

When John the Baptist (and subsequently, Jesus Himself) proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7), reference was primarily being made to what theologians have called “the Kingdom of grace,” instituted at the Fall of man in Eden and confirmed or established at Calvary. ^{1The Great Controversy, 347, 348.}GVEGW 122.4

“The kingdom of glory,” on the other hand, will be ushered in at the second coming of Jesus. At that time “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations” (Matthew 25:31, 32).GVEGW 122.5

The second coming of Christ, but dimly foreseen in the Old Testament, is a preeminent doctrine of the New. It is a subject of promise and prophecy. Just before His crucifixion, upon the night of betrayal, Jesus promised His disciples that He would “go and prepare a place for you“: and then later “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3).GVEGW 123.1

The “gospel of the kingdom” must first be “preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).GVEGW 123.2

Some 60 years after Christ ascended to heaven, He returned briefly to share a “revelation” of Himself and of the future with His beloved friend, John Zebedee. The disciple-become-prophet had been banished by Emperor Domitian to the Isle of Patmos for preaching the gospel.GVEGW 123.3

Three times in the final chapter of the last book of the Bible, Jesus promised to return: “Behold, I come quickly.” “Behold, I come quickly.” “Surely, I come quickly” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). Whereupon John offered the closing prayer of the New Testament, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).GVEGW 123.4

The Second Coming was a favorite theme of New Testament writers. Paul declared “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” to be “that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). And five times in three of his epistles he spoke longingly, lovingly of “that day” (1 Thessalonians 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1:18; 4:8).GVEGW 123.5

Jesus Himself informed us that there would be a painfully acute trauma connected with the scenes of earth’s history immediately prior to His return. There would be, He declared solemnly, “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). There would also be a concomitant “distress of nations” and “men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:25, 26).GVEGW 123.6

The apostle Peter declared that this “day of the Lord” would be accompanied by the “heavens” passing away “with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Indeed, the heavens “being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10, 12).GVEGW 123.7

John adds, ominously, in the Revelation that one of the primary purposes of the second coming of Jesus will be to “destroy them which destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).GVEGW 123.8

Truly “that day” will be preceded by “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time” (Daniel 12:1).GVEGW 124.1