"At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns
to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the redeemed,
and attended by a retinue of angels. As He descends
in terrific majesty, He bids the wicked dead arise
to receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host,
numberless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to
those who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous
were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked
bear the traces of disease and death.
Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold
the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked
hosts exclaim, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord!” It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. The
force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the
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wicked went into their graves, so they come forth, with the
same enmity to Christ, and the same spirit of rebellion. They
are to have no new probation, in which to remedy the
defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by
this. A life-time of transgression has not softened their hearts.
A second probation, were it given them, would be occupied
as was the first, in evading the requirements of God and exciting
rebellion against Him.
Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence,
after His resurrection, He ascended, and where angels repeated
the promise of His return. Says the prophet, “The
Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee.” “And
His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount
of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, . . . and there
shall be a very great valley.” “And the Lord shall be King
over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and
His name one.” Zechariah 14:5, 4, 9. As the New Jerusalem,
in its dazzling splendor, comes down out of Heaven,
it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive
it, and Christ with His people and the angels, enters
the holy city.
Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the
supremacy. While deprived of his power, and cut off from
his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and
dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised, and he sees the
vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he determines
not to yield the great controversy. He will marshal
all the armies of the lost under his banner, and through them
endeavor to execute his plans. The wicked are Satan’s captives.
In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of
the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his suggestions
and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning,
he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He
claims to be the Prince who is the rightful owner of the world,
and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him.
He represents himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer,
assuring them that his power has brought them forth from
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their graves, and that he is about to rescue them from the
most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ having been removed,
Satan works wonders to support his claims. He
makes the weak strong, and inspires all with his own
spirit and energy. He proposes to lead them against the
camp of the saints, and to take possession of the city of God.
With fiendish exultation he points to the unnumbered millions
who have been raised from the dead, and declares that
as their leader he is well able to overthrow the city, and regain
his throne and his kingdom.
In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived
race that existed before the flood; men of lofty stature
and giant intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen
angels, devoted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation
of themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led
the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil
inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of God,
caused him to blot them from the face of His creation. There
are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant
men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors
whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these experienced
no change. As they come up from the grave,
they resume the current of their thoughts just where it
ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer
that ruled them when they fell.
Satan consults with his angels, and then with these
kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon
the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that the
army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, and
that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take possession
of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All
immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skillful artisans
construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed for their
success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into companies
and divisions.
At last the order to advance is given, and the countless
host moves on,—an army such as was never summoned
by earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces
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of all ages since war began on earth could never equal. Satan,
the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels
unite their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors
are in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies,
each under its appointed leader. With military precision,
the serried ranks advance over the earth’s broken and
uneven surface to the city of God. By command of Jesus,
the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies
of Satan surround the city, and make ready for the onset.
Now Christ again appears to the view of his enemies.
Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold,
is a throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the
Son of God, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom.
The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe,
no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is
enshrouding His Son. The brightness of His presence fills
the city of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding
the whole earth with its radiance.
Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous
in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the
burning, have followed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion.
Next are those who perfected Christian characters in
the midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the
law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and
the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith.
And beyond is the “great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues,” “before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands.” Revelation 7:9.
Their warfare is ended, their victory won. They have run the
race and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is
a symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the
spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs.
The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and
re-echoes through the vaults of heaven, “Salvation to our
God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” And
angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. As the
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redeemed have beheld the power and malignity of Satan, they
have seen, as never before, that no power but that of Christ
could have made them conquerors. In all that shining throng
there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, as if
they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. Nothing
is said of what they have done or suffered; but the burden
of every song, the keynote of every anthem, is, Salvation
to our God, and unto the Lamb.
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth
and Heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes
place. And now, invested with supreme majesty and
power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the
rebels against his government, and executes justice upon
those who have transgressed His law and oppressed His
people. Says the prophet of God: “I saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened; and another book was
opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works.” Revelation 20:11, 12.
As soon as the books of record are opened, and the
eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of
every sin which they have ever committed. They see just
where their feet diverged from the path of purity and
holiness, just how far pride and rebellion have carried them
in the violation of the law of God. The seductive temptations
which they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings
perverted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings
rejected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn,
unrepentant heart,—all appear as if written in letters
of fire.
Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic
view appear the scenes of Adam’s temptation and
fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemption.
The Saviour’s lowly birth; His early life of simplicity
and obedience; His baptism in Jordan; the fast and tempta-
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tion in the wilderness; His public ministry, unfolding to men
Heaven’s most precious blessings; the days crowded with
deeds of love and mercy, the nights of prayer and watching
in the solitude of the mountains; the plottings of envy, hate,
and malice which repaid His benefits; the awful, mysterious
agony in Gethsemane, beneath the crushing weight of the
sins of the whole world; His betrayal into the hands of the
murderous mob; the fearful events of that night of horror,—
the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by His best-loved disciples,
rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem; the Son of
God exultingly displayed before Annas, arraigned in the high
priest’s palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly
and cruel Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned
to die,—all are vividly portrayed.
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed
the final scenes,—the patient Sufferer treading the path
to Calvary; the Prince of Heaven hanging upon the cross;
the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring
agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth,
the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when
the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.
The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his
angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the
picture of their own work. Each actor recalls the part which
he performed. Herod, who slew the innocent children of
Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel; the base
Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of John the
Baptist; the weak, time-serving Pilate; the mocking soldiers;
the priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried,
“His blood be on us, and our children!”—all behold the enormity
of their guilt. They vainly seek to hide from the divine
majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun,
while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet,
exclaiming, “He died for me!”
Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ,
the heroic Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving
John, and their true-hearted brethren, and with them
the vast host of martyrs; while outside the walls, with
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every vile and abominable thing, are those by whom they
were persecuted, imprisoned, and slain. There is Nero,
that monster of cruelty and vice, beholding the joy and exaltation
of those whom he once tortured, and in whose
extremest anguish he found Satanic delight. His mother is
there to witness the result of her own work; to see how the
evil stamp of character transmitted to her son, the passions
encouraged and developed by her influence and example,
have borne fruit in crimes that caused the world to shudder.
There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to
be Christ’s ambassadors, yet employed the rack, the
dungeon, and the stake to control the consciences of His
people. There are the proud pontiffs who exalted themselves
above God, and presumed to change the law of the Most
High. Those pretended fathers of the church have an account
to render to God from which they would fain be excused.
Too late they are made to see that the Omniscient One is
jealous of His law, and that He will in nowise clear the guilty.
They learn now that Christ identifies His interest with that
of His suffering people; and they feel the force of His own
words, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40.
The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar
of God, on the charge of high treason against the government
of Heaven. They have none to plead their cause;
they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death
is pronounced against them.
It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not
noble independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin,
and death. The wicked see what they have forfeited by
their life of rebellion. The far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory was despised when offered them; but how
desirable it now appears. “All this,” cries the lost soul, “I
might have had; but I chose to put these things far from me.
Oh, strange infatuation! I have exchanged peace, happiness,
and honor, for wretchedness, infamy, and despair.” All see
that their exclusion from Heaven is just. By their lives
they have declared, “We will not have this Jesus to reign
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over us.”
As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coronation
of the Son of God. They see in His hands the tables
of the divine law, the statutes which they have despised
and transgressed. They witness the outburst of wonder,
rapture, and adoration from the saved; and as the wave
of melody sweeps over the multitudes without the city, all
with one voice exclaim, “Great and marvelous are Thy works,
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, Thou King
of saints;” and falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of
life.
Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory and
majesty of Christ. He who was once a covering cherub
remembers whence he has fallen. A shining seraph, “son
of the morning;” how changed, how degraded! From the council
where once he was honored, he is forever excluded. He
sees another now standing near to the Father, veiling His
glory. He has seen the crown placed upon the head of Christ
by an angel of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he
knows that the exalted position of this angel might have been
his.
Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity,
the peace and content that were his until he indulged in
murmuring against God, and envy of Christ. His accusations,
his rebellion, his deceptions to gain the sympathy and
support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in making no
effort for self-recovery when God would have granted him
forgiveness,—all come vividly before him. He reviews his
work among men and its results,—the enmity of man toward
his fellow-man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise
and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the long
succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls
his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and to sink
man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots have been
powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus.
As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit of his toil, he
sees only failure and ruin. He has led the multitudes to believe
that the city of God would be an easy prey; but he knows
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that this is false. Again and again, in the progress of the
great controversy, he has been defeated, and compelled to
yield. He knows too well the power and majesty of the Eternal.
The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify himself,
and to prove the divine government responsible for
the rebellion. To this end he has bent all the power of his
giant intellect. He has worked deliberately and systematically,
and with marvelous success, leading vast multitudes
to accept his version of the great controversy which has been
so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief of conspiracy
has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the time has
now come when the rebellion is to be finally defeated, and
the history and character of Satan disclosed. In his last great
effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession
of the city of God, the arch-deceiver has been fully
unmasked. Those who have united with him see the total
failure of his cause. Christ’s followers and the loyal angels
behold the full extent of his machinations against
the government of God. He is the object of universal
abhorrence.
Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted
him for Heaven. He has trained his powers to war against
God; the purity, peace, and harmony of Heaven would be to
him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and
justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has
endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself.
And now Satan bows down, and confesses the justice of
his sentence.
“Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?
for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship
before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.”
Revelation 15:4. Every question of truth and error in the
long-standing controversy has now been made plain. The
results of rebellion, the fruits of setting aside the divine
statutes, have been laid open to the view of all created
intelligences. The working out of Satan’s rule in contrast
with the government of God, has been presented to the whole
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universe. Satan’s own works have condemned him. God’s
wisdom, His justice, and His goodness stand fully vindicated.
It is seen that all His dealings in the great controversy have
been conducted with respect to the eternal good of His people,
and the good of all the worlds that He has created. “All thy
works shall praise thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless
thee.” Psalm 145:10. The history of sin will stand to all
eternity as a witness that with the existence of God’s law
is bound up the happiness of all the beings He has created.
With all the facts of the great controversy in view,
the whole universe, both loyal and rebellious, with one
accord declare, “Just and true are thy ways, thou King
of saints.”
Before the universe has been clearly presented the great
sacrifice made by the Father and the Son in man’s behalf.
The hour has come when Christ occupies His rightful
position, and is glorified above principalities and powers
and every name that is named. It was for the joy that
was set before Him,—that He might bring many sons unto
glory,—that He endured the cross and despised the shame.
And inconceivably great as was the sorrow and the shame,
yet greater is the joy and the glory. He looks upon the redeemed,
renewed in His own image, every heart bearing the
perfect impress of the divine, every face reflecting the likeness
of their King. He beholds in them the result of the travail
of His soul, and He is satisfied. Then, in a voice that
reaches the assembled multitudes of the righteous and
the wicked, He declares, “Behold the purchase of my
blood! For these I suffered; for these I died; that they
might dwell in my presence throughout eternal ages.”
And the song of praise ascends from the white-robed ones
about the throne, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor,
and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.
Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to
acknowledge God’s justice, and to bow to the supremacy
of Christ, His character remains unchanged. The spirit
of rebellion, like a mighty torrent, again bursts forth.
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Filled with frenzy, he determines not to yield the great controversy.
The time has come for a last desperate struggle
against the King of Heaven. He rushes into the midst of his
subjects, and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury,
and arouse them to instant battle. But of all the countless
millions whom he has allured into rebellion, there are
none now to acknowledge his supremacy. His power is
at an end. The wicked are filled with the same hatred of
God that inspires Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless,
that they cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is
kindled against Satan and those who have been his agents
in deception, and with the fury of demons they turn upon
them.
Saith the Lord: “Because thou hast set thine heart as the
heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon
thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their
swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile
thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit.” “I
will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire. . . . I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee
before kings, that they may behold thee.” “I will bring thee
to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold
thee. . . . Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt
thou be any more.” Ezekiel 28:6-8, 16-19.
“Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and
fuel of fire. “The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed
them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.” “Upon the
wicked He shall rain quick burning coals, fire and brimstone,
and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.”
Isaiah 9:5; 34:2; Psalm 11:6 (margin). Fire comes down from
God out of Heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons
concealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames
burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire.
The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The elements
melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the
works that are therein are burned up. Malachi 4:1; 2 Peter
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3:10. The earth’s surface seems one molten mass,—a
vast, seething lake of fire. It is the time of the judgment
and perdition of ungodly men,—“the day of the Lord’s
vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy
of Zion.” Isaiah 34:8.
Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth.
Proverbs 11:31. They “shall be stubble; and the day that
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi
4:1. Some are destroyed as in a moment, while others
suffer many days. All are punished “according to their
deeds.” The sins of the righteous having been transferred
to Satan, he is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion,
but for all the sins which he has caused God’s people to
commit. His punishment is to be far greater than that of those
whom he has deceived. After all have perished who fell by
his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on. In the cleansing
flames the wicked are at last destroyed, root and
branch,—Satan the root, his followers the branches. The
full penalty of the law has been visited; the demands of justice
have been met; and Heaven and earth, beholding, declare
the righteousness of Jehovah.
Satan’s work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand
years he has wrought his will, filling the earth with
woe, and causing grief throughout the universe. The whole
creation has groaned and travailed together in pain. Now
God’s creatures are forever delivered from His presence and
temptations. “The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they
(the righteous) break forth into singing.” Isaiah 14:7. And a
shout of praise and triumph ascends from the whole loyal
universe. “The voice of a great multitude,” “as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,” is
heard, saying, “Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth.”
While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction,
the righteous abode safely in the holy city. Upon
those that had part in the first resurrection, the second
death has no power. Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11. While
God is to the wicked a consuming fire, he is to his people
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both a sun and a shield. Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the
first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Revelation
21:1. The fire that consumes the wicked purifies
the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally
burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful
consequences of sin.
One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will ever
bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head,
upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the
cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding
Christ in His glory, “He had bright beams coming out of
His side; and there was the hiding of His power.” Habakkuk
3:4 (margin) That pierced side whence flowed the crimson
stream that reconciled man to God,—there is the Saviour’s
glory, there “the hiding of His power.” “Mighty to save,”
through the sacrifice of redemption, He was therefore strong
to execute justice upon them that despised God’s mercy. And
the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor;
through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show
forth His praise, and declare His power.
“O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of
Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion.” Micah
4:8; Ephesians 1:14. The time has come, to which holy men
have looked with longing since the flaming sword barred the
first pair from Eden,—the time for “the redemption of the
purchased possession.” Micah 4:8; Ephesians 1:14. The
earth originally given to man as his kingdom, betrayed
by him into the hands of Satan, and so long held by the
mighty foe, has been brought back by the great plan of
redemption. All that was lost by sin has been restored. “Thus
saith the Lord . . . that formed the earth and made it; He hath
established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be
inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18. God’s original purpose in the creation
of the earth is fulfilled as it is made the eternal abode
of the redeemed. “The righteous shall inherit the land, and
dwell therein forever.” Psalm 37:29.
A fear of making the future inheritance seem too ma-
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terial has led many to spiritualize away the very truths
which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured
His disciples that He went to prepare mansions for them in
the Father’s house. Those who accept the teachings of God’s
Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly
abode. And yet, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Human language is inadequate to describe the reward
of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold
it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise
of God.
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 of
the Lord. There the widespreading plains swell into hills
of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits.
On those peaceful plains, beside those living
streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers,
shall find a home.
“My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in
sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.” “Violence shall
no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within
thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy
gates Praise.” “They shall build houses, and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They
shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and
another eat: . . . mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their
hands.” Isaiah 32:18; 60:18; 65:21, 22.
There, “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the
rose.” “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree.” Isaiah
35:1; 55:13. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
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the leopard shall lie down with the kid; . . . and a little child
shall lead them.” “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My
holy mountain,” (Isaiah 11:6, 9; 33:24; 62:3; 65:19) saith
the Lord.
Pain cannot exist in the atmosphere of Heaven. There
will be no more tears, no funeral trains, no badges of mourning.
“There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
. . . for the former things are passed away.” Revelation
21:4, 11, 24, 3. “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the
people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.”
Isaiah 11:6, 9; 33:24; 62:3; 65:19.
There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified
new earth, “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” Isaiah 11:6, 9;
33:24; 62:3; 65:19. “Her light was like unto a stone most
precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” “The
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it;
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into
it.” Revelation 21:4, 11, 24, 3. Saith the Lord, “I will rejoice
in Jerusalem, and joy in My people.” Isaiah 11:6, 9; 33:24;
62:3; 65:19. “The tabernacle of God is with men, and He
will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation
21:4, 11, 24, 3.
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; 21:22. The light of the sun will be superseded
by a radiance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which
immeasurably surpasses the brightness of our noontide. The
glory of God and the Lamb floods the holy city with unfading
light. 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 22:5; 21:22. The
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people of God are privileged to hold open communion
with the Father and the Son. Now we “see through a glass,
darkly.” 1 Corinthians 13:12. 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.
There the redeemed shall “know, even as also they are
known.” The loves and sympathies which God Himself has
planted in the soul, shall there find truest and sweetest exercise.
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, the sacred ties that
bind together “the whole family in Heaven and earth,” (Ephesians
3:15)—these help to constitute the happiness of the
redeemed.
There, immortal minds will contemplate with neverfailing
delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries
of redeeming love. There is 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,
new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh
objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body.
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.
With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the
joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures
of knowledge and understanding gained through ages
upon ages in contemplation of God’s handiwork. With undimmed
vision they gaze upon the glory of creation,—
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suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order
circling the throne of Deity. Upon all things, from the least
to the greatest, the Creator’s name is written, and in all are
the riches of His power displayed.
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.
“And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Revelation 5:13.
The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are
no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony
and gladness beats through the vast creation. From
Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness,
throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest
atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and
inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy,
declare that God is love."
