Chapter 16: The Close of Probation

Are there some people living today who have closed their individual
probation, so that the Holy Spirit can no longer reach them?
          "Every day the probation of some is closing.  Every hour some are passing 
      beyond their reach of mercy" (PP 140).
          "Every day we have been associating with men and women who are judgement
      bound.  Each day may have been the dividing line to some soul; someone may 
      have made the decision which will determine his future destiny.  What has
      been our influence over these fellow travelers?  What efforts have we put 
      forth to bring them to Christ?" (5T 466).

Do we know when our own period of probation may close?
          "We know not how soon our probation may close.  At the longest, we have but
      a brief lifetime here, and we know not how soon the arrow of death may
      strike our hearts.  We know not how soon we may be called to give up the
      world and all its interests" (MH 454).

Upon what four occasions, at least, in the past has there been a general
close of probation for a large number of people?
          "There was a shut door in Noah's day.  There was at that time a withdrawal of
      the Spirit of God from the sinful race that perished in the waters of the
      Flood" (1SM 63).
          "There was a shut door in the days of Abraham.  Mercy ceased to plead with
      the inhabitants of Sodom" (ibid.).
          "There was a shut door in Christ's day.  The Son of God declared to the 
      unbelieving Jews of that generation, 'Your house is left unto you desolate' 
      (Matt. 23: 38)" (ibid.).
          "There was a shut door in 1844.  All who saw the light of the first and 
      second angels' messages and rejected that light were left in darkness.  And 
      those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the 
      proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their
      faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit
      of God, and it no longer pleaded with them" (ibid.).

What divine decree will close the time of probation
for the entire human family?
          Revelation 22: 11, 12--"Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let
      him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do 
      right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy." "Behold, I am coming 
      soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what
      he has done."

What act of Christ will indicate that His intercession in 
behalf of sinners is forever finished?
          Daniel 12: 1--"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your
      people, will arise.  There will be a time of distress such as has not happened
      from the beginning of nations until then.  But at that time your people-
      -everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered.
          Revelation 15: 8--And the temple was filled with smoke from
      the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple 
      until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Do we know when that fateful hour will come?
          "God has not revealed to us the time when this message will close, or when 
      probation will have an end.  Those things that are revealed we shall accept for
      ourselves and for our children; but let us not seek to know that which has been
      kept secret in the councils of the Almighty" (1SM 191 [7BC 989]).
          "Letters have come to me asking me if I have any special light as to the time 
      when probation will close; and I answer that I have only this message to bear, that
      it is now time to work while the day lasts, for the night cometh in which no man
      can work" (ibid.).
          "There is no command for anyone to search the Scriptures in order to ascertain,
      if possible, when probation will close.  God has no such message for any mortal lips.
      He would have no mortal tongue declare that which He has hidden in His secret councils"
      (1SM 192 [7BC 990]).

Are there any time prophecies that must yet
be fulfilled before probation can close?
          "The people will not have another message upon definite time...The longest 
      reckoning reaches to the autumn of 1844" (7BC 971).

What definite prediction is made concerning the enforcement of Sunday
observance before the close of probation?
          "The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed 
      before probation closes; for it is to be the great test for the people of God, by which
      their eternal destiny will be decided...This is the test that the people of God must 
      have before they are sealed" (7BC 976).
          "The great final test comes at the close of human probation, when it will be too 
      late for the soul's need to be supplied" (COL 412).

What is the relationship between the universal Sunday law and the
close of probation for the nations of earth?
          (See "The Universal Sunday Law")