This document contains multiple passages discussing how beholding Christ transforms believers into His likeness through the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes that we must keep Christ ever before us to reflect His character. It also warns that without proper preparation through overcoming sin and selfishness, believers will not be able to stand during the time of trouble or abide God's presence when Christ returns. We must diligently work to attain purity of heart and reflect the image of Jesus fully in order to receive God's seal and be protected and saved.

1. By Beholding We Become Changed.--It is a law both of the
intellectual and the spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed.
The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to
dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and
reverence. Man will never rise higher than his standard of purity or
goodness or truth. If self is his
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loftiest ideal, he will never attain to anything more exalted. Rather, he will
constantly sink lower and lower. The grace of God alone has power to exalt
man. Left to himself, his course must inevitably be downward.-- GC 555
(1888). {2MCP 418.4}
Partakers of the Divine Nature
God's purpose for us is that we shall be partakers of the divine
nature.
It is by beholding Christ that we are made
partakers of his nature. Keeping him ever in view, we are
changed into his likeness. Thus we gain strength to
overcome as he overcame. God does not ask us to fight the
battle against sin in our own strength. He has given Christ to be
our helper in every time of need. The Saviour knows all about our trials and
difficulties. Let us lay them at his feet, and trust him to lead us aright. {RH,
September 3, 1903 par. 11}
Let every professed Christian search his heart diligently, and put
away from him everything that is unlike Christ. Let him
remember that he has been bought with a price, even the blood
of the Son of God, and that in thought, word, and deed he is to honor his
Redeemer. Remembering this, he will guard against pride and self -indulgence.
Constantly he will endeavor so to live that he can meet the Saviour in peace.

2. He will resist every suggestion of the enemy to do that which would grieve
the heart of Christ. If he is faithful in this life, he will be ready to
welcome the Saviour when he comes in the clouds of heaven.
With joy he will say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for
him, and he will save us." {RH, September 3, 1903 par. 12}
To be sanctified is to become a partaker of the divine nature, catching the
spirit and mind of Jesus, ever learning in the school of Christ. "But we all,
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the Lord." It is impossible for any of us by our own
power or our own efforts to work this change in ourselves. It is
the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, which Jesus said he would send
into the world, that changes our character into the image of
Christ; and when this is accomplished, we reflect, as in a mirror,
the glory of the Lord. That is, the character of the one who thus beholds
Christ is so like his, that one looking at him sees Christ's own character
shining out as from a mirror. Imperceptibly to ourselves, we are changed day
by day from our ways and will into the ways and will of Christ, into the
loveliness of his character. Thus we grow up into Christ, and unconsciousl y
reflect his image. {RH, December 5, 1912 par. 2}
Professed Christians keep altogether too near the lowlands of
earth. Their eyes are trained to see only commonplace things,
and their minds dwell upon the things their eyes behold. Their
religious experience is often shallow and unsatisfying, and their
words are light and valueless. How can such reflect the image of
Christ? How can they send forth the bright beams of the Sun of
Righteousness into all the dark places of the earth? To be a
Christian is to be Christlike. {RH, December 5, 1912 par. 3}
kept the Lord ever before him, and the inspired Word
says that he "walked with God." HE MADE CHRIST HIS CONSTANT
COMPANION. He was in the world, and performed his duties to the
world; but he was ever under the influence of Jesus.

3. The Christian sees the Saviour ever before him, and by
beholding, he becomes changed into the same image, from glory
to glory. He bears the signature of God. Shall we give this up for
the science of sophistry? Never! Truth is full of Godlike richness. He
who is a partaker of the divine nature will hold firm to the truth. He wil l
never let go; for the truth holds him. {RC 124.6}
We are surrounded with iniquity in its various forms. You
need a helper. The Lord knows all our works; even our thoughts
are before Him as an open book. I now make my appeal to you. It
is to change right about. Step from under Satan's hellish banner, and step
under the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ. Will you do this? Will
you change your spirit for the spirit of Christ? When your mind
delights to dwell upon heaven and heavenly things, there will be
no desire with you to enjoy the society of young men. There wil l
be kindled in the soul the most intense desire to be like Jesus. By
beholding we become changed into the same image. Carnal
thoughts, carnal feelings, will be no longer entertained. You will
no longer be frivolous, cheap in talk, and unholy in life. Then
you will reach, through the grace of Christ, the highest standard
of purity and elevation of character. {TSB 67.1}
I now commit you to God and to His grace. But work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.--Letter 14a,
1891.

4. But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. There wa s
still a work of preparation to be accomplished for
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them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple of
God in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priest in
His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Another
message of warning and instruction was to be given to the church.
{GC 424.4}
Says the prophet: "Who may abide the day of His coming? and
who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's
fire, and like fullers' soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness." Malachi 3:2, 3. Those who are living
upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the
sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a
mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be
purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of
God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the
battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in
heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from
the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting
away of sin, among God's people upon earth. This work is more
clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14. {GC 425.1}
When this work shall have been accomplished, the
followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing.
"Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years."
Malachi 3:4. Then the church which our Lord at His coming is to
receive to Himself will be a "glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing." Ephesians 5:27. Then she will look "forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an
army with banners."

5. he Landmarks Defined.--In Minneapolis God gave
precious gems of truth to His people in new settings.
This light from heaven by some was rejected with all the
stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ,
and there was much talk about standing by the old
landmarks. But there was evidence they knew not what
the old landmarks were. There was evidence and there
was reasoning from the word that commended itself to
the conscience; but the minds of men were fixed, sealed
against the entrance of light, because they had decided it
was a dangerous error removing the "old landmarks"
when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but
they had perverted ideas of what constituted the old
landmarks. {CW 30.1}
The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great
events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of
the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided
relation to God's people upon the earth, [also] the first
and second angels' messages and the third, unfurling the
banner on which was inscribed, "The commandments of
God and the faith of Jesus." One of the landmarks under
this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving
people in heaven, and the ark containing the law
of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth
commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of
the transgressors of God's law. The nonimmortality of
the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind
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nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks. All
this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary. {CW
30.2}

6. Preparation for the End
At Oswego, New York, September 7, 1850, the Lord
showed me that a great work must be done for His
people before they could stand in the battle in the day of
the Lord. I was pointed to those who claim to be
Adventists, but who reject the present truth, and saw
that they were crumbling and that the hand of the Lord
was in their midst to divide and scatter them now in the
gathering time, so that the precious jewels among them,
who have formerly been deceived, may have their eyes
opened to see their true state. And now when the truth is
presented to them by the Lord's messengers, they are
prepared to listen, and see its beauty and harmony, and
to leave their former associates and errors, embrace the
precious truth and stand where they can define their
position. {EW 69.2}
I saw that those who oppose the Sabbath of the Lord
could not take the Bible and show that our position is
incorrect; therefore they would slander those who
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believe and teach the truth and would attack their
characters. Many who were once conscientious and
loved God and His Word have become so hardened by
rejecting the light of truth that they do not hesitate to
wickedly misrepresent and falsely accuse those who love
the holy Sabbath, if by so doing they can injure the
influence of those who fearlessly declare the truth. But
these things will not hinder the work of God. In fact, this
course pursued by those who hate the truth will be the
very means of opening the eyes of some. Every jewel will
be brought out and gathered, for the hand of the Lord is

7. set to recover the remnant of His people, and He will
accomplish the work gloriously. {EW 69.3}
We who believe the truth should be very careful to
give no occasion for our good to be evil spoken of. We
should know that every step we take is in accordance
with the Bible; for those who hate the commandments of
God will triumph over our missteps and faults, as the
wicked did in 1843. {EW 70.1}
May 14, 1851, I saw the beauty and loveliness of Jesus.
As I beheld His glory, the thought did not occur to me
that I should ever be separated from His presence. I saw
a light coming from the glory that encircled the Father,
and as it approached near to me, my body trembled and
shook like a leaf. I thought that if it should come near me
I would be struck out of existence, but the light passed
me. Then could I have some sense of the great and
terrible God with whom we have to do. I saw then what
faint views some have of the holiness of God, and how
much they take His holy and reverend name in vain,
without realizing that it is God, the great and terrible
God, of whom they are speaking. While praying, many
use careless and irreverent expressions, which grieve
the tender Spirit of the Lord and cause their petitions to
be shut out of heaven.
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{EW 70.2}
I also saw that many do not realize what they must be
in order to live in the sight of the Lord without a high
priest in the sanctuary through the time of trouble.
Those who receive the seal of the living God and are
protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of
Jesus fully. {EW 71.1}

8. I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so
needful and were looking to the time of "refreshing" and
the "latter rain" to fit them to stand in the day of the
Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the
time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the
needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the
refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the
sight of a holy God. Those who refuse to be hewed by the
prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the
whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their
condition is far better than it really is, will come up to
the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that
they needed to be hewed and squared for the building.
But there will be no time then to do it and no Mediator to
plead their cause before the Father. Before this time the
awfully solemn declaration has gone forth, "He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." I
saw that none could share the "refreshing" unless they
obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride,
selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong
word and action. We should, therefore, be drawing
nearer and nearer to the Lord and be earnestly seeking
that preparation necessary to enable us to stand in the
battle in the day of the Lord. Let all remember that God
is holy and that none but holy beings can ever dwell in
His presence.