The Great Controversy : Chapter 42 : The Controversy Ended

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.

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, amighty 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 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 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.” 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 key-note 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 bestloved

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 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 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 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 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

[671] 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 a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of

their cup.” [Isaiah 9:5; 34:2; 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

[673] ungodly men,—“the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of

recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” [Isaiah 34:8; Proverbs

11:31.]

The wicked receive their recompense in the earth. [Isaiah 34:8;

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 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 [674]

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 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 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 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 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 never-failing 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,—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.