| |
"Her sins have
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. . . .
In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she
hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and
sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am
no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come
in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be
utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth
her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and
lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, .
. . saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city!
for in one hour is thy judgment come." Revelation 18:5-10.
"The merchants of the earth," that
have "waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies," "shall stand
afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying,
Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple,
and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For
in one hour so great riches is come to nought." Revelation 18:11, 3,
15-17.
Such are the judgments that fall upon
Babylon in the day of the visitation of God's wrath. She has filled up
the measure of her iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for
destruction.
Page 654
When the voice of God turns the
captivity of His people, there is a terrible awakening of those who have
lost all in the great conflict of life. While probation continued they
were blinded by Satan's deceptions, and they justified their course of
sin. The rich prided themselves upon their superiority to those who were
less favored; but they had obtained their riches by violation of the law
of God. They had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to
deal justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt themselves and
to obtain the homage of their fellow creatures. Now they are stripped of
all that made them great and are left destitute and defenseless. They
look with terror upon the destruction of the idols which they preferred
before their Maker. They have sold their souls for earthly riches and
enjoyments, and have not sought to become rich toward God. The result
is, their lives are a failure; their pleasures are now turned to gall,
their treasures to corruption. The gain of a lifetime is swept away in a
moment. The rich bemoan the destruction of their grand houses, the
scattering of their gold and silver. But their lamentations are silenced
by the fear that they themselves are to perish with their idols.
The wicked are filled with regret, not
because of their sinful neglect of God and their fellow men, but because
God has conquered. They lament that the result is what it is; but they
do not repent of their wickedness. They would leave no means untried to
conquer if they could.
The world see the very class whom they
have mocked and derided, and desired to exterminate, pass unharmed
through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake. He who is to the
transgressors of His law a devouring fire, is to His people a safe
pavilion.
The minister who has sacrificed truth
to gain the favor of men now discerns the character and influence of his
teachings. It is apparent that the omniscient eye was following him as
he stood in the desk, as he walked the streets, as he mingled with men
in the various scenes of life. Every
Page 655
emotion of the soul, every line written,
every word uttered, every act that led men to rest in a refuge of
falsehood, has been scattering seed; and now, in the wretched, lost
souls around him, he beholds the harvest.
Saith the Lord: "They have healed the
hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when
there is no peace." "With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous
sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked,
that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life."
Jeremiah 8:11; Ezekiel 13:22.
"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy
and scatter the sheep of My pasture! . . . Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings." "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow
yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for your days for
slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; . . . and the
shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to
escape." Jeremiah 23:1, 2; 25:34, 35, margin.
Ministers and people see that they
have not sustained the right relation to God. They see that they have
rebelled against the Author of all just and righteous law. The setting
aside of the divine precepts gave rise to thousands of springs of evil,
discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth became one vast field of
strife, one sink of corruption. This is the view that now appears to
those who rejected truth and chose to cherish error. No language can
express the longing which the disobedient and disloyal feel for that
which they have lost forever--eternal life. Men whom the world has
worshiped for their talents and eloquence now see these things in their
true light. They realize what they have forfeited by transgression, and
they fall at the feet of those whose fidelity they have despised and
derided, and confess that God has loved them.
The people see that they have been
deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but
all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers.
Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their
hearers to make void the law of God and to
Page 656
persecute those who would keep it holy.
Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their
work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. "We are lost!"
they cry, "and you are the cause of our ruin;" and they turn upon the
false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will
pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once
crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The
swords which were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their
enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.
"A noise shall come even to the ends
of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will
plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword."
Jeremiah 25:31. For six thousand years the great controversy has been in
progress; the Son of God and His heavenly messengers have been in
conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn, enlighten, and save
the children of men. Now all have made their decisions; the wicked have
fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The time has come
for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. Now the
controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. "The Lord hath a
controversy with the nations;" "He will give them that are wicked to the
sword."
The mark of deliverance has been set
upon those "that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be
done." Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's
vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is
given: "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and
women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My
sanctuary." Says the prophet: "They began at the ancient men which were
before the house." Ezekiel 9:1-6. The work of destruction begins among
those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people.
The false watchmen are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to
spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together.
"The Lord cometh out of His place to
punish the inhabitants
Page 657
of the earth for their iniquity: the
earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain."
Isaiah 26:21. "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will
smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh
shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away
in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great
tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold
everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against
the hand of his neighbor." Zechariah 14:12, 13. In the mad strife of
their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of God's
unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth--priests,
rulers, and people, rich and poor, high and low. "And the slain of the
Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other
end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor
buried." Jeremiah 25:33.
At the coming of Christ the wicked are
blotted from the face of the whole earth--consumed with the spirit of
His mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His
people to the City of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants.
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."
"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord
hath spoken this word." "Because they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath
the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate:
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned." Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5,
6.
The whole earth appears like a
desolate wilderness. The ruins of cities and villages destroyed by the
earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn
out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while vast
caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been rent from their
foundations.
Page 658
Now the event takes place foreshadowed
in the last solemn service of the Day of Atonement. When the
ministration in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins of
Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of the blood of the
sin offering, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord;
and in the presence of the congregation the high priest confessed over
him "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the
goat." Leviticus 16:21. In like manner, when the work of atonement in
the heavenly sanctuary has been completed, then in the presence of God
and heavenly angels and the hosts of the redeemed the sins of God's
people will be placed upon Satan; he will be declared guilty of all the
evil which he has caused them to commit. And as the scapegoat was sent
away into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the
desolate earth, an uninhabited and dreary wilderness.
The revelator foretells the banishment
of Satan and the condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is
to be reduced, and he declares that this condition will exist for a
thousand years. After presenting the scenes of the Lord's second coming
and the destruction of the wicked, the prophecy continues: "I saw an
angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a
great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old
serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little
season." Revelation 20:1-3.
That the expression "bottomless pit"
represents the earth in a state of confusion and darkness is evident
from other scriptures. Concerning the condition of the earth "in the
beginning," the Bible record says that it "was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep."[* THE HEBREW WORD HERE
TRANSLATED "DEEP" IS RENDERED IN THE SEPTUAGINT (GREEK) TRANSLATION OF
THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT BY THE SAME WORD RENDERED "BOTTOMLESS PIT" IN
REVELATION 20:1-3.]
Page 659
Genesis 1:2. Prophecy teaches that it
will be brought back, partially at least, to this condition. Looking
forward to the great day of God, the prophet Jeremiah declares: "I
beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was
no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were
broken down." Jeremiah 4:23-26.
Here is to be the home of Satan with
his evil angels for a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not
have access to other worlds to tempt and annoy those who have never
fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound: there are none remaining,
upon whom he can exercise his power. He is wholly cut off from the work
of deception and ruin which for so many centuries has been his sole
delight.
The prophet Isaiah, looking forward to
the time of Satan's overthrow, exclaims: "How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations! . . . Thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: . . . I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the
earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a
wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that
opened not the house of his prisoners?"
Isaiah 14:12-17.
For six thousand years, Satan's work
of rebellion has "made the earth to tremble." He had "made the world as
a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof." And he "opened not the
house of his prisoners." For six thousand years his prison house has
received God's people, and he would have held them captive forever; but
Christ had broken his bonds and set the prisoners free.
Page 660
Even the wicked are now placed beyond
the power of Satan, and alone with his evil angels he remains to realize
the effect of the curse which sin has brought. "The kings of the
nations, even all of them, lie in glory, everyone in his own house [the
grave]. But thou art cast out thy grave like an abominable branch. . . .
Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast
destroyed thy land, and slain thy people." Isaiah 14:18-20.
For a thousand years, Satan will
wander to and fro in the desolate earth to behold the results of his
rebellion against the law of God. During this time his sufferings are
intense. Since his fall his life of unceasing activity has banished
reflection; but he is now deprived of his power and left to contemplate
the part which he has acted since first he rebelled against the
government of heaven, and to look forward with trembling and terror to
the dreadful future when he must suffer for all the evil that he has
done and be punished for the sins that he has caused to be committed.
To God's people the captivity of Satan
will bring gladness and rejoicing. Says the prophet: "It shall come to
pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and
from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to
serve, that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon
[here representing Satan], and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! . . .
Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers;
that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the
nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained." Verses 3-6,
R.V.
During the thousand years between the
first and the second resurrection the judgment of the wicked takes
place. The apostle Paul points to this judgment as an event that follows
the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come,
who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will
make manifest the counsels of
Page 661
the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5. Daniel
declares that when the Ancient of Days came, "judgment was given to the
saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:22. At this time the righteous reign
as kings and priests unto God. John in the Revelation says: "I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them."
"They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a
thousand years." Revelation 20:4, 6. It is at this time that, as
foretold by Paul, "the saints shall judge the world." 1 Corinthians 6:2.
In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with
the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the
deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked must suffer is
meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against their
names in the book of death.
Satan also and evil angels are judged
by Christ and His people. Says Paul: "Know ye not that we shall judge
angels?" Verse 3. And Jude declares that "the angels which kept not
their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
Jude 6.
At the close of the thousand years the
second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from
the dead and appear before God for the execution of "the judgment
written." Thus the revelator, after describing the resurrection of the
righteous, says: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5. And Isaiah declares,
concerning the wicked: "They shall be gathered together, as prisoners
are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
after many days shall they be
visited." Isaiah 24:22.
|
|
Survival guide for the end of time!
About us
