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 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 lifetime 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 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
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." Verse
10. And angel and seraph
unite their voices in adoration. As the 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 temptation
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, timeserving Pilate; the mocking soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried, "His blood be on us, and on 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 truehearted brethren, and
with them the vast host of martyrs; while outside the walls, with
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 no wise 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 Man [Jesus] to reign 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" (Revelation 15:3); 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 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 archdeceiver 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." Verse 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 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.
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 an 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 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.
The wicked receive their recompense 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." Revelation 19:6.
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. While God is to the wicked a consuming
fire, He is to His people both a sun and a shield. Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11.
"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. 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." 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 material 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 wide-spreading 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." "The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, and 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," saith the
Lord. Isaiah 35:1; 55:13; 11:6,
9.
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." "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 33:24.
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." "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." Saith the Lord: "I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people." "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." Isaiah 62:3; Revelation 21:11, 24; Isaiah 65:19; Revelation 21:3.
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. 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 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." .PG 677 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 ever-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, 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--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 for ever 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.
