And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Revelation 22:4.

We cannot now see the glory of God, but it is only by receiving Him here that we shall be able by and by to see Him face to face. God would have us keep our eyes fixed on Him, that we may lose sight of the things of this world. We have … no time for any of us to delay that preparation which will enable us to see the face of God….

Only by looking to Jesus, the Lamb of God, and following in His steps, can you prepare to meet God. Follow Him, and you will one day walk the golden streets of the city of God. You will see Him who laid aside His royal garments and His kingly crown, and disguising Himself with humanity, came to our world and bore our sins, that He might lift us up and give us a revelation of His glory and majesty. We shall see Him face to face if we now give ourselves up to be molded and fashioned by Him and prepared for a place in the kingdom of God.

Those who consecrate their lives to the service of God will live with Him through the ceaseless ages of eternity. “God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3)….

Their minds were given to God in this world; they served Him with their heart and intellect, and now He can put His name in their foreheads. “And there shall no night there; … for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). They do not go in as those that beg a place there, for Christ says to them, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). He takes them as His children, saying, Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. The crown of immortality is placed on the brow of the overcomers. They take their crowns and cast them at the feet of Jesus, and touching their golden harps, they fill all heaven with rich music in songs of praise to the Lamb. Then “they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” ^{30The Youth’s Instructor, August 20, 1896.}

From That I May Know Him

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:1-3.

When Christ lay in the tomb, His disciples called to mind these words. They pondered over them, and wept because they could not fathom the meaning of them. No faith and hope relieved the brokenhearted disciples. They could only repeat the words, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself….”

Mansions are prepared for all who have subjected themselves in obedience to the divine law. And in order that the human family might have no excuse because of Satan’s temptations, Christ became one with them. The only Being who was one with God lived the law in humanity, descended to the lowly life of a common laborer, and toiled at the carpenter’s bench with His earthly parent. He lived the life which He requires of all who claim to be His children. Thus was cut off the powerful argument of Satan that God required of humanity a self-denial and subjection that He would not Himself render….

Jesus asks no more of men than that they shall follow in His footsteps. He was the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, but for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. Almost His last words to us are, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” In the place of being sorrowful, your hearts troubled, you should rejoice. I came into the world for your sakes. My time here is now accomplished. I shall henceforth be in heaven. For your sakes I have been an interested worker in the world. In the future I shall be engaged just as devotedly in a more important work in your behalf. I came into the world to redeem you. I go to prepare an abiding place for you in My Father’s kingdom.^{28Letter 121, 1897.}

What a comfort these words should be to us! Think of the work Christ is now doing in heaven—preparing mansions for His children. He wants us to prepare to dwell in these mansions.^{29Manuscript 28, 1901.}

From That I May Know Him

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54.

How precious to those who are losing their loved of this world are their faith and hope in the promises of God which open before them the future immortal life! Their hopes may fasten upon unseen realities of the future world. Christ has risen from the dead the first fruits. Hope and faith strengthen the soul to pass through the dark shadows of the tomb, in full faith of coming forth to immortal life in the morning of the resurrection. The Paradise of God, the home of the blessed! There all tears shall be wiped from off all faces! When Christ shall come the second time, to be “admired in all them that believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:10), death shall be swallowed up in victory, and there shall be no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more death! A rich promise is given to us: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). Is not this promise rich and comforting to those who love God? ^{25The Review and Herald, October 11, 1887.}

The resurrection of Jesus was a sample of the final resurrection of all who sleep in Him. The risen body of the Saviour, His deportment, the accents of His speech, were all familiar to His followers. In like manner will those who sleep in Jesus rise again. We shall know our friends even as the disciples knew Jesus. Though they may have been deformed, diseased, or disfigured in this mortal life, yet in their resurrected and glorified body their individual identity will be perfectly preserved, and we shall recognize, in the face radiant with the light shining from the face of Jesus, the lineaments of those we love.^{26The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 6:1092.}

The Life-giver will call up His purchased possession in the first resurrection, and until that triumphant hour, when the last trump shall sound and the vast army shall come forth to eternal victory, every sleeping saint will be kept in safety and will be guarded as a precious jewel, who is known to God by name.^{27The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 4:1143.}

From That I May Know Him

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 1 John 2:28.

Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not in their sins but from their sins, and to sanctify them through the truth; and in order that He may become a perfect Saviour to us, we must enter into union with Him by a personal act of faith. Christ has chosen us, we have chosen Him, and by this choice we become united to Him and are to live from henceforth, not unto ourselves, but unto Him who has died for us. But this union can only be preserved by constant watchfulness, lest we fall into temptation and make a different choice, for we are free always to take another master if we so desire. Union with Christ means an unfailing preference for Him in every act and thought….

We are to consider ourselves as constituting the family of Christ, and we are to follow Him as dear children. Adopted into the household of God, shall we not honor our Father and our kindred? …

We must establish an unyielding enmity between our souls and our foe, but we must open our hearts to the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. We want Satan’s darkness to be shut out and the light of Heaven to flow in. We want to become so sensitive to holy influences that the lightest whisper of Jesus will move our souls…. Then we shall delight to do the will of God, and Christ can own us before the Father and before the holy angels as those who abide in Him….

But we shall not boast of our holiness. As we have clearer views of Christ’s spotless and infinite purity we shall feel as did Daniel when he beheld the glory of the Lord and said, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption” (Daniel 10:8). We cannot say, “I am sinless” till this vile body is changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body. But if we constantly seek to follow Jesus, the blessed hope is ours of standing before the throne of God without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, complete in Christ, robed in His righteousness and perfection.^{24Signs of the Times, March 23, 1888.}

From That I May Know Him

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:17, 18.

John, exiled upon the Isle of Patmos, … hears a voice saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” (Revelation 1:11). At the sound of the voice John falls down in astonishment as if dead. He is unable to bear the sight of the divine glory. But a hand raises John up, and the voice he remembers as the voice of his Master. He is strengthened and can endure to talk with the Lord Jesus.

So will it be with the remnant people of God who are scattered—some in the mountain fastnesses, some exiled, some pursued, some persecuted. When the voice of God is heard and the brightness of the glory is revealed, when the trial is over, the dross removed, they know they are in the presence of One who has redeemed them by His own blood. Just what Christ was to John in his exile He will be to His people who are made to feel the hand of oppression for the faith and testimony of Jesus Christ…. These were driven by the storm and tempest of persecution to the crevices of the rocks, but were hiding in the Rock of Ages; and in the fastnesses of the mountains, in the caves and dens of the earth, the Saviour reveals His presence and His glory. Yet a little while, and He that is to come will come and will not tarry. His eyes as a flame of fire penetrate into the fast-closed dungeons and hunt out the hidden ones, for their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. These eyes of the Saviour are above us, around us, noting every difficulty, discerning every danger; and there is no place where His eyes cannot penetrate, no sorrows and sufferings of His people where the sympathy of Christ does not reach….

The child of God will be terror-stricken at the first sight of the majesty of Jesus Christ. He feels that he cannot live in His holy presence. But the word comes to him as to John, “Fear not.” Jesus laid His right hand upon John; He raised him up from his prostrate position. So will He do unto His loyal, trusting ones.^{23Manuscript 56, 1886.}

From That I May Know Him