The last chapter of "Great Controversy", Chapter 42 has 56 key texts in it's 17 pages. All of these texts with their implied truths had been put together by others of the pioneers in their articles of the "Review, Present Truth", or the books they had compiled or written, thus there are no new ideas from Ellen White in this chapter. As will be shown, the ideas that she did have they are not implied or supplied in scripture texts, came from two other writers, March and Melvill. It seems strange, that with all the visions and revelations of heaven and the hereafter that she said she had and all the time that she said she spent being directed around in heaven by angels and faithful Christians of the past, that she could not think of any words of her own to describe what she said was either told her or that she saw would take place in the hereafter.
For many of the bible texts that are used in chapter 42 of "Great Controversy", read James White's "Life Incidents", 1868, Pages 260-265 where, often the same order is used as in Chapter 42. Also see J. N. Andrews book "The Three Messages of Revelation", XIV, 6-12. Particularly "The Third Angel's Message", and "Two Horned Beast", printed in 1860 but taken from his 1855 articles in the "Review". This material was taken without shame by James White and used in his book "Life Incidents" without giving any credit and often without any change, merely following J. N. Andrews' line for line.
Thus it has been shown from this study of the book "Great Controversy" that Ellen White was not the author nor did it come from visions or revelations. Instead it was taken from the works of others by others without credit being given to anyone but Ellen White. It is also plain to see that J. N. Andrews with his many ideas and articles and books, all written before Ellen White wrote or expressed herself in print, was the inspiration for the "Great Controversy". A theme he had amplified long before in his "History of the Sabbath". Ellen merely expanded on the theme using the total concept of the law and the ideas and thoughts and words of others to pad the works she claimed as her own.
I think we have taken away too much of the meaning of these words when applied to heaven for fear that we should make that other state too material. But this spiritual qualification of the meaning of the words is not in the Bible… Heaven is a country… There the great Shepherd leads his flock to living fountains of waters. The trees bring forth fruit through every month of the year, and their leaves are for the healing of the nations. It has seas clear and placid, like glass, and rivers winding through shaded banks and multitudes walking in the gentle light… And we get a new and higher idea of the harmony pervading the universal kingdom… between us and the most distant worlds… countless worlds that he has strewn though measureless space?… Heaven is an inhabited country, where the same ever-active, ever-improving and immortal minds have been building up great works of beauty and delight for thousands of years… and the toilers are never weary. They can undertake great and far-reaching enterprises with the certainty of having thousands of years to carry them on and complete them with divine and glorious beauty… they toil and rest, they see and hear and know, they are interested in change of scene and diversity of occupation, they have degrees of talent and varieties of taste and personal peculiarities, and the glorious country which they inhabit is developing evermore in riches and beauty and delight.
…Heaven is a City. It has streets and walls and gates. The streets are golden, the gates are pearl, the walls are of precious stones. The city is lighted with its own indwelling glory, and it shines from afar like the sun, and ransomed millions walk in its light… The inhabitants can beautify their homes with the genius of archangels and with the study of ages. The mightiest of the servants of God, the sainted heroes of all time, may be met in its streets. It receives intelligence from distant worlds swifter than thought travels on the electric wire over the mountains and under the sea and round the world… The redeemed of earth are there permitted to look upon the brow that was crowned with thorns for them…
Daniel March, Home Life in the Bible, Pages 610-616 - 1873
A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home… In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called "a country", Hebrews 11: 14-16. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed for the Lord… There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified new earth… There the redeemed shall know, even as also they are known. …The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages. …Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized, and still there will arise new heights to surmount.
Ellen White, Great Controversy, Pages 675-677 - 1911
"They need no candle, neither light of the sun,"…"for the Lord God giveth them light." …"I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it"…. God is here pleased to communicate grace; the saints shall be privileged with direct and open intercourse…thus access to God and the Lamb …"Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." …We behold nothing but the image of God, as reflected from his works or dealings, which serve as so many glasses or mirrors… we are to behold God "face to face; not, that is, by reflected rays, but by direct… open vision, standing in his presence, and gazing as it were, on his countenance… acquiring knowledge; …no longer to be taught through laborious processes of study and research… to learn from actual inspection, the mind having the powers of the eye, so that the understanding shall gather in the magnificence of truth, with the same facility… There will be no difference between ourselves and the object of contemplation… Creation, with all thy bright wonders… communication of happiness… The sublimest knowledge is made accessible…gifted with capacities and privileged with opportunities… the ripening of our powers is concerned… seems to indicate that our future state, like our present, will be progressive; there is to be a continued communication of light, or of knowledge… But he has yet to pass into a scene of greater light… the explanation of difficulties, the wisdom of appointments…unsearchable indeed and unlimited, but ever discovering more of their stupendousness, their beauty, their harmony…the mystic figures of prophecy… Then shall redemption throw open before him its untravelled amplitude, and allow of his tracing those unnumbered ramifications which the cross, erected on this globe, may possibly be sending to all the outskirts of immensity… give place to adoring reverence… for the mysteries of time were exhausted, and redemption presented no unexplored district… "passeth knowledge." But if never to be overtaken, it shall always be pursued… that the just man will continually be admitted to richer and richer discoveries of God and of Christ, so that eternity will be spent in journeying through that temple… and if knowledge be thus progressive, so also shall love be, and so also happiness,… admire more, and adore more.
…The anthem which is to ascribe worthiness for ever and ever to the Lamb, …from ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; what an orchestra… for as the Lamb discloses to his Church more and more of his amazing achievement, and opens new tracts of the consequences of the atonement, and exhibits, under more endearing and overcoming aspects, the love which moved Him, and the sorrows which beset Him, and the triumphs which attended Him, we believe that the hearts of the redeemed will beat with a higher pulse of devotion, and their harps be swept with a bolder hand, and their tongues send forth a mightier chorus. Thus will the just proceed from strength to strength; knowledge, and love, and holiness, and joy, being on the increase.
Henry Melvill, Sermons, Volume 2, Pages 332-347 - 1851
In the City of God "there shall be no night." None will need or desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing the will of God and offering praise to His name. We shall ever feel the freshness of the morning and shall ever be far from its close. "And they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light." Revelation 22: 5. The light of the sun will be superseded by a radiance… The redeemed walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day… "I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Revelation 21: 22. The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and the Son. "Now we see through a glass, darkly", 1 Corinthians 13: 13. We behold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of nature and in His dealings with men; but then we shall see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between. We shall stand in His presence and behold the glory of His countenance… The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
…There, immortal minds will contemplate with never failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount.
…All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds afar--worlds that thrilled with sorrow at the spectacle of human woe and rang with songs of gladness at the tidings of a ransomed soul…suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order.
…And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in The Great Controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise… The Great Controversy is ended… that God is love. (Melvill, controversies are ended, p. 33)….It is said by St. Paul of the love of Christ, and, if or the love, then necessarily also of Him whose love it is, that it "passeth knowledge,"…and if knowledge be thus progressive, so also shall love be, and so also happiness. (p. 344)
Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, Pages 676-678 - 1911
Ellen G. White, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4, Pages 490-492 - 1884