As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation, in the decree enforcing the papal Sabbath, will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains. And now, instead of seeking expensive dwellings here, we should be preparing to move to a better country, even a heavenly.Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 464, 465.
I saw the saints leaving the cities and villages, and associating together in companies, and living in the most solitary places. Angels provided them food and water, while the wicked were suffering from hunger and thirst. Then I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them. I saw a writing, copies of which were scattered in different parts of the land, giving orders that unless the saints should yield their peculiar faith, give up the Sabbath, and observe the first day of the week, the people were at liberty after a certain time to put them to death. But in this hour of trial the saints were calm and composed, trusting in God and leaning upon His promise that a way of escape would be made for them. In some places, before the time for the decree to be executed, the wicked rushed upon the saints to slay them; but angels in the form of men of war fought for them. Satan wished to have the privilege of destroying the saints of the Most High; but Jesus bade His angels watch over them. God would be honored by making a covenant with those who had kept His law, in the sight of the heathen round about them; and Jesus would be honored by translating, without their seeing death, the faithful, waiting ones who had so long expected Him. {EW 282.2}
The Lord calls for His people to locate away from the cities, for in such an hour as ye think not, fire and brimstone will be rained from heaven upon these cities. Proportionate to their sins will be their visitation. When one city is destroyed, let not our people regard this matter as a light affair, and think that they may, if favorable opportunity offers, build themselves homes in that same destroyed city ... {LDE 95.3}
Let all who would understand the meaning of these things read the eleventh chapter of Revelation. Read every verse, and learn the things that are yet to take place in the cities. Read also the scenes portrayed in the eighteenth chapter of the same book. {LDE 95.4}
As I looked down upon the great city, I could but think of the scenes that will be witnessed here when Christ shall come. This city is given up to pleasure and worldliness. Beer-drinking and card-playing, dancing and reveling, absorb the attention of the people. The multitudes will mock at the message of warning. Like the dwellers in Sodom, they will be awakened only when it is too late. As the sun arose for the last time upon the cities of the plain, the people thought to commence another day of godless riot. All were eagerly planning their business or their pleasure, and the messenger of God was derided for his fears and his warnings. Suddenly as the thunder peal from an unclouded sky, fell balls of fire on the doomed capital. "So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." The people will be eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, until the wrath of God shall be poured out without mixture of mercy. The world will be rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security. They have been taught by their ministers to believe that the second advent of Christ is to be spiritual or to take place in the distant future, and the warning of his soon coming is denounced as fanaticism or heresy. Skepticism and "science falsely so called" have undermined faith in the Bible. The multitudes are striving to forget God, and they eagerly accept fables, that they may pursue the path of self-indulgence undisturbed. The people are hurrying to and fro, the lovers of pleasure intent upon amusement, the money-makers seeking wealth, and all are saying, Where is the promise of his coming? Then it is that the voice of the archangel and the trump of God are heard. Oh, what terror will then overwhelm the wicked! What cries of anguish will be heard from those who have derided the overtures of mercy from God's messengers! The bolts and bars by which they sought to guard their treasures are rent asunder by the mighty earthquake. The grand and magnificent buildings are shaken down, and the guilty triflers are buried in the ruins. {RH, October 26, 1886 par. 11}
That "great city" that she looked down on then in 1886 was Copenhagen.
While Ellen White consistently called on people to move their residences from the cities, she called for for some institutions to be in the cities in order to be a witness for Jesus and give the Three Angels' Messages.
My gut guess is that the proportion of us SDAs who live in cities is pretty much the same as the general population's.
The conditions that face Christian workers in the great cities, constitute a solemn appeal for untiring effort in behalf of the millions living within the shadow of impending doom. Men will soon be forced to great decisions, and they must have opportunity to hear and to understand Bible truth, in order that they may take their stand intelligently on the right side. God is now calling upon His messengers in no uncertain terms, to warn the cities while mercy still lingers, and while multitudes are yet susceptible to the converting influence of Bible truth. {Ev 25.3}
When our first parents fell from their high estate through transgression, God's law was made void. Then Christ entered upon his work as our Redeemer, and probation was granted to the inhabitants of the world. In Noah's day, men disregarded the law of God until almost all remembrance of him had passed away from the earth. Their wickedness reached so great a height, violence, crime, and every kind of sin became so intensely active, that the Lord brought a flood of water upon the world, and swept away the wicked inhabitants thereof. But mercy was mingled with judgment. Noah and his family were saved. In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that the Lord will interfere; fire came down from heaven, and destroyed those wicked cities. {RH, June 15, 1897 par. 11}
From time to time the Lord has made known his manner of working. He is mindful of what is passing upon the earth; and when a crisis has come, he has revealed himself, and has interposed to hinder the working of Satan's plans. He has often permitted matters with nations, with families, and with individuals, to come to a crisis, that his interference might become marked. Then he has let the fact be known that there was a God in Israel who would sustain and vindicate his people. When the defiance of the law of Jehovah shall be almost universal, when his people shall be pressed in affliction by their fellow men, God will interpose. The fervent prayers of his people will be answered; for he loves to have his people seek him with all their heart, and depend upon him as their deliverer. He will be sought unto to do these things for his people, and he will arise as the protector and avenger of his people. The promise is, "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? ... I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." {RH, June 15, 1897 par. 12}
As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against commandment keepers shall withdraw the protection of government and abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies, dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge in the strongholds of the mountains. Like the Christians of the Piedmont valleys, they will make the high places of the earth their sanctuaries and will thank God for "the munitions of rocks." Isaiah 33:16. But many of all nations and of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. The beloved of God pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by prison bars, sentenced to be slain, some apparently left to die of starvation in dark and loathsome dungeons. No human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand is ready to lend them help. {GC 626.1}
Will the Lord forget His people in this trying hour? Did He forget faithful Noah when judgments were visited upon the antediluvian world? Did He forget Lot when the fire came down from heaven to consume the cities of the plain? Did He forget Joseph surrounded by idolaters in Egypt? Did He forget Elijah when the oath of Jezebel threatened him with the fate of the prophets of Baal? Did He forget Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit of his prison house? Did He forget the three worthies in the fiery furnace? or Daniel in the den of lions? {GC 626.2}
"Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." Isaiah 49:14-16. The Lord of hosts has said: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." Zechariah 2:8. {GC 626.3}
