An understanding of the hope of Christ's second coming is the key that unlocks all the history that follows, and explains all the future lessons. The truths of prophecy are bound up together, and as we study them, they form a beautiful cluster of practical Christian truth. The second coming of the Son of man is to be the wonderful theme kept before the people. Eternal realities must be kept before the mind's eye, and the attractions of the world will appear as they are, altogether profitless as vanity.
Not infrequently the minds of the people, and even of God's servants, are so blinded by human opinions, the traditions and false teachings of men, that they are able only partially to grasp the great things which He has revealed in His word. Thus it was with the disciples of Christ, even when the Saviour was with them in person. Their minds had become imbued with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal prince, who was to exalt Israel to the throne of the universal empire, and they could not understand the meaning of His words foretelling His suffering and death.... pp 15-16 Maranantha The Lord Is Coming, by Ellen White, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1976