In View of Christ's N ear Return The thought to be kept before students is that time is short and that they must make speedy preparation for doing the work that is essential for this time.... I am bidden to say to you that you know not how soon the crisis will come. It is stealing gradually upon us, as a thief. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God; men are pursuing their usual course of eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage; merchants are still engaged in buying and selling; publications are still issuing one upon another; men are jostling one against another, seeking to get the highest place; pleasure lovers are still attending theaters, horse races, gambling hells, and the highest excitement prevails; but probation's hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. There are few who believe with heart and soul that we have a heaven to win and a hell to sh…
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."
EGW directly alludes to the coming of the Lord 'as a thief' and the activities of people before the crisis, mirroring the warning in 1 Thessalonians 5:2.