Desolation Of The Earth - The Great Controversy, Chapter 41

Welcome to Desolation Of The Earth chapter of The Great Controversy eBook

In Short:

• The gain of a life-time of many is swept away in a moment.

• 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; 

because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:1, 5.

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 decision. 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. Jeremiah 25:31.

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.

A desolate wilderness

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.

For six thousand years, Satan's work of rebellion has made the earth tremble.  

He has made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof. Isaiah 14:17.

The Day of Atonement climax

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 scape-goat was sent away into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate earth.

I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

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.

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.

Deprived of his power

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.

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.

Moreover, 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.

Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power of Satan. Alone with his evil angels he remains to realize the effect of the curse which sin has brought.

The Judgment

It takes place during the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection following 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 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.

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.

Furthermore, Satan and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people - Know ye not that we shall judge angels? 1 Corinthians 6:3.

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.

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References

1. The Ellen G. White Estate

2. The Bible, King James Version (KJV)

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