What is meant by John's vision of Christ's casting the censer into the earth? Rev. 8:2-5 (compare Rev. 22:11; 7:3; 15:5, 8).
"I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven. An angel with a writer's inkhorn by his side returned from the earth and reported to Jesus that his work was done, and the saints were numbered and sealed. Then I saw Jesus, who had been ministering before the ark containing the ten commandments, throw down the censer. He raised His hands, and with a loud voice said, It is done.' And all the angelic host laid off their crowns as Jesus made the solemn declaration, [Revelation 22:11 quoted]."-Early Writings, pp. 279, 280.
Even though Christ's heavenly intercession for sinners will cease at the close of probation, His sealed people will be kept from sin by the indwelling Holy Spirit. "It is the latter rain which revives and strengthens them to pass through the time of trouble."-Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 353. "Evil angels still pressed around them, but could have no power over them."-Early Writings, p. 271.
What trouble did Jeremiah prophesy for Israel at the time of the Babylonian invasion? Jer. 30:5-7. Apart from his fear of physical harm, how is Jacob's night of wrestling a type of the trouble that God's people will face after the close of probation? Gen. 32:24-26.
"The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress described by the prophet as the time of Jacob's trouble. . . . [Jer. 30:5-7 quoted]."-The Great Controversy, p. 616.
"As Satan accuses the people of God on account of their sins, the Lord permits him to try them to the uttermost. Their confidence in God, their faith and firmness, will be severely tested. As they review the past, their hopes sink; for in their whole lives they can see little good. They are fully conscious of their weakness and unworthiness. Satan endeavors to terrify them with the thought that their cases are hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never be washed away. He hopes so to destroy their faith that they will yield to his temptations and turn from their allegiance to God. . . . But while they have a deep sense of their unworthiness, they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out, and they cannot bring them to remembrance."-The Great Controversy, pp. 618-620.