In A Word To The Little Flock,  page 30  and (1 Selected Messages 66)  in response  to  a question about who will receive the seal of God, Ellen White replied: 

    "Well, bless the Lord, dear brethren and sisters, it is AN  EXTRA MEETING for those who have the seal of the living     God...the living righteous will receive the seal of God prior to the close of probation.  Also that THESE WILL ENJOY SPECIAL HONORS, IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD." 

    By the time the reader gets this monograph the Wedding will be history.  For the Bride will have been married and sealed. 

    Some of the Special honors will have been received and others will be yet to come.  Do we know just what these "special honors" are that Ellen eludes to? By reading between the lines in both Scripture and Spirit of Prophecy, and from recent  experience  and  fresh revelations,  we can pick up clues  about  these "special  honors."    We  will take them in time sequence  beginning  with  the present time. 

    This material is not being presented as the final word or a totally complete and exact picture of what is to happen.  The Lord has not given us all the light,  which always leaves room for the writer's thoughts.   Some of these special honors may not occur as presented.  If some of these thoughts and ideas are not correct,  time will prove them.   This material is written with all the understanding  the Lord has bestowed upon us at this time.   If there is error, then  it is at the Lord's permission.   We are ever open for the Lord  to  make changes as He wills to do. 

    1)  The FIRST "honor"  or gift is already being bestowed upon those who are Christ's  Bride.    THE SWEET PHYSICAL AWARENESS AND DAILY  FOND  CARESSES ARE EXPRESSIONS  OF  LOVE Jesus is bestowing upon the light of His life.   This  is like the feelings Pilgrim II experienced.  Other special manifestations include supernatural  events such as opening eyes and ears to  celestial  and  heavenly things  and the daily joys that come  from being led by the  Spirit  to  people needing  help  or vice versa.   These  are  only  the  precursors  of  heavenly manifestations  and tokens of the Spirit yet to come.   These  activities  will continue and increase in intensity as the time of the second coming draws near, with but one exception -- the time of Jacob's trouble. 

    2)  The supreme gift of all gifts is the Groom giving Himself to the Bride. But this goes both ways, for the Groom also receives the most treasured gift of His life.   The Father of the Bride,  our heavenly Father gives the hand of His daughter Jerusalem (the 144,000) to the Groom (His Son) in marriage.  and it is He  also who performs the wedding service.   The wedding is also  an ordination service,   for the Bride is ordained as a priest before the Lord in preparation for her work as Loudcrier. 

    For  a  time the Lord allowed this writer to think the supreme gift of  all would be the Bride literally taken to heaven,  to the Most Holy Place,  for the wedding  service.   There seemed to be reason to assume this as a  possibility. But shortly after this monograph was completed the Lord intervened, yet another incident  showing  His hand is indeed in the writing of  this  series,   giving instruction and corrections where needed.   This correction was  found while  I was reading the study "The 144,000  and Revelation 14"  found on page 9 of this monograph.  Immediately the Lord brought my attention to the quotation found in GC 427,  which makes it crystal clear that the 144,000  are not married in  the Most Holy Place in heaven. 

    "THEY (the Bride) WERE NOT TO BE PRESENT IN PERSON AT THE MARRIAGE; for it takes place in heaven,  WHILE THEY ARE UPON THE EARTH.   The followers of Christ are to 'wait  for their Lord,  when He will return from the wedding.'   (Luke 12:36) But  they are to understand His work, and to follow Him by faith  as He goes in before God.   It is in this sense that they are said to go into the marriage." 

    Ellen states:   "It  is  in this sense that they are said  to  go  into the marriage."    And  in the same sense it can be said that the Bride is  actually married in heaven.  The heavenly Sanctuary is a duplicate of the sanctuary that lies within us,  as we have discussed several times.  In this sense the wedding service takes place within the Most Holy Place of our hearts.  Our body temples are  at this time truly the dwelling place of the Trinity.   This makes them  a likeness of the heavenly sanctuary. 

    "The Jewish Temple  was built of hewn stones quarried out of  the mountains,  and every stone was fitted for its place in the Temple,  hewed,  polished,  and tested, before it was brought to Jerusalem....This  building represents   God's spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation, and tongue, and people, of all grades, high and low,  rich and poor,  learned and unlearned.   These are not  dead  substances,  to be fitted by hammer  and  chisel. They are living stones,  quarried out from the world by  the truth; and the great Master Builder, the Lord of the temple, is now hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual  temple.  When completed, this temple will be perfect in all its parts, the [object of] admiration of angels and  men, for its builder and maker is God."     Upward Look 281. 

    Through  virtue  of  the  wedding service,  our  body  temples  become  the permanent  earthly Most Holy dwelling place of the Father,  established  within our  human  spirit.   Truly this must be the greatest honor ever bestowed  upon humanity.  But this is not something that is exclusive to the 144,000.  It just happens  to them first.   Each saint will experience the same thing.   The only difference is that they are not the Bride of Christ.

    3)   The THIRD GIFT or honor is the SEAL itself.   The seal,  as  mentioned before,   is the  kiss  that completes the wedding service.    We know the seal means  the  Bride's name is in her forehead and is "New Jerusalem"  which means "possession  of peace."   This denotes that she has the emotional peace of  her Groom given to her.  She is at peace because she is fully Sanctified except for her physical body.
 

    4)   Another special honor and gift given at the time of the sealing is the full infilling of the Spirit.  This means the Bride will have the full power of the Holy Spirit available as she needs it to do her work. 

   "He who is endowed  with the Holy Spirit has great capacities of heart and INTELLECT, with strength of will and purpose that is unconquerable."    Testimonies to Ministers 176. 

    We  have  already seen how Wisdom and the Holy Spirit are the same  Spirit. Heavenly Wisdom will be available and utilized to the fullest by  the Bride  as she is  sent on her mission of giving the loud cry.   Having the  mind  of  her Husband,   she  will  be  given  full  understanding  of  every  situation  she encounters.  All  spiritual Wisdom and understanding is at their disposal,  for they are one with their Husband and the Father, reflecting fully His character, love,   and  mercy.   Along with intellect Ellen says she is also given  "great capacities of heart," "strength of will and purpose that is unconquerable."

    5) It would be expected that the Bride of Christ would receive very special honors or gifts from her Husband.   Does not an earthly groom give some special wedding  gift to the Bride?   How much more then would our Lord and Saviour  be expected  to  bestow  His  supreme affection upon His Bride  for  whom  He  has patiently  waited since He left this earth?    This is one event that  will  be remembered  forever in the annuals of eternal history.   THE WEDDING OF THE SON OF GOD.   It would be strange indeed,  if something extraordinarily special was not done for the Bride to commemorate this occasion. 

    There  are  clues in the Spirit of Prophecy and Scripture  that  hint  that sometime  after the sealing  the Bride will be taken to heaven on a grand tour, possibly  in vision like Ellen White.   The Lord did this  for Ellen  over  one hundred years before the loud cry;  will He not do at least  this  much for His elect Bride of Christ,  especially in light of the greatest outpouring of God's
Spirit this world will ever witness. 

    The  purpose would be the same,  to encourage the elect who will go through the time of trouble such as never was.   There is historical precedent for this experience.    The  ten  spies were sent to look over the  land  of  Canaan  in preparation for possessing the land.   Moses too was shown Caanan, and likewise Ellen  was  shown the heavenly Canaan.   It is logical then to expect that  the elect living today will also experience something similar. 

    In  the  first  pamphlet James White ever printed,  A  Word to  the  Little Flock,"  he recorded a vision given to Ellen.  This was later included in Early Writings, with the one deletion about "an extra meeting." 

   "Mount  Zion was just before us,  and on the Mount sat  a glorious temple, and about it were seven other mountains, on which grew roses and lilies, and I saw little ones climb, or if they chose,  use their little wings and fly to the top of the  mountains,  and pluck the never fading flowers.   There were  all kinds of trees around the temple to  beautify  the place;  the box, the pine, the fir, the oil, the myrtle, the pomegranate,  and the fig tree bowed down with the weight of its timely figs, that made the place look all over glorious. As we were about to enter the holy temple,  Jesus raised his lovely  voice and said,  only the 144,000  enter this place, and we shouted Hallelujah. WELL BLESS THE LORD, DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS, IT IS AN EXTRA MEETING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THE SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD. This temple was supported  by seven  pillars, all of transparent  gold, set with pearls most  glorious...I  saw there  the tables of stone in which the names of the 144,000 were engraved in letters of gold;... " 

    This  vision given to Ellen supports the idea that the Bride will be  taken to heaven.    Several  key points lead to the  conclusion  this  is  a valid supposition.    It is even supported by John in Revelation 14  as we shall soon see.    You will have to judge for yourself as to the validity  of  this  idea. Depending upon when the reader receives this monograph,  this event as seen  by Ellen may already be history if it is to happen. 

    In  this vision Ellen relates what she was shown in Heaven.    People were being conducted on a tour by Jesus with others,  including the 144,000.   Since this vision was only a likeness of the real event it may not be exact in  every particular.   Some visions given to Ellen were mixed with events from different periods of time, but yet she saw all events in a composite picture,  perhaps so she could more readily see the overall scope. 

    This  vision obviously contained scenes of the future,  for she saw  people who are dead,  such as "Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Noah,  Daniel and others like them."   She saw ministers of her time as well.   At the same time she saw  the 144,000   sealed  saints,  for they would not be the 144,000  unless they  were already  sealed.    This means in her vision they are married, for the marriage takes place before or at the time of sealing. 

    She also saw little children flying,  which would place part of this  scene after  the second coming.   Those little ones would be either children taken to heaven in the process of growing up sometime after their arrival in heaven,  or children  conceived  and  born  as a result of intercourse between  the  female Brides  and Jesus,  the Groom.   If this be true,  this component of the  scene would take place some time after the thousand year period,  after the earth  is made  new and the saints are permanently settled.   In other words,  Ellen  saw people in this vision representing different periods of time. 

    Is it possible this vision is of the 144,000 on tour, which Ellen described as an extra meeting?   She states the extra meeting is only for those who  were sealed,  thus setting the 144,000 apart from the rest of the group.   That puts the time of the meeting after the sealing and consequently after the  wedding. You will notice this meeting is also connected somehow with the temple she saw. 

    We  know by the time the Lord comes the second time,  all the elect who are alive  will have upon their foreheads the seal of God.   This means this vision is  of  a time before the second coming.   Why was Jesus seen taking them to  a temple?  Could this temple, identified as theirs,  be yet another gift or honor given only to the Bride?    Could this temple in fact be the dwelling place  or home  of the  Bride and Groom?   Why would their names  be engraved in gold  on tables of stone if it did not belong to them? As the spouse of Jesus, the Bride will,   as John said,  "FOLLOW THE LAMB WHITHERSOEVER HE GOETH"  (Rev.   14:4). Whatever the Bride and Groom do, they will do it together as Husband and wife. 

    We  think this vision including the 144,000  will take place,  for the Lord would  never reveal any future event if it wasn't going to someday be  reality. Since she saw herself as part of the 144,000, we are justified in assuming this is something they will experience.   Recognizing the 144,000 are not a cohesive group until after the wedding,  this scene must of necessity follow the wedding and sealing. 

    If  Ellen White,  the representative of God for her day was given  so  many special gifts and spiritual honors, why wouldn't the Brides of today receive as many  or more?  Especially since correspondingly greater light is promised  for the  end  time,  and most especially since the marriage will have already taken place.