Chapter 63
The Millennium
MY attention was again directed to the
earth. The wicked had been destroyed, and their dead bodies were lying on its surface. The
wrath of God in the seven last plagues had been visited upon the inhabitants of the earth,
causing them to gnaw their tongues from pain and to curse God. The false shepherds had
been the signal objects of Jehovah's wrath. Their eyes had consumed away in their holes,
and their tongues in their mouths, while they stood upon their feet. After the saints had
been delivered by the voice of God, the wicked multitude turned their rage upon one
another. The earth seemed to be deluged with blood, and dead bodies were from one end of
it to the other.
The earth looked like a
desolate wilderness. Cities and villages, shaken down by the earthquake, lay in heaps.
Mountains had been moved out of their places, leaving large caverns. Ragged rocks, thrown
out by the sea, or torn out of the earth itself, were scattered all over its surface.
Large trees had been uprooted and were strewn over the land. Here is to be the home of
Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Here he will be confined, to wander up
and down over the broken surface of the earth and see the effects of his rebellion against
God's law. For a thousand years he can enjoy the fruit of the curse which he has caused.
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Limited alone to the earth,
he will not have the privilege of ranging to other planets, to tempt and annoy those who
have not fallen. During this time Satan suffers extremely. Since his fall his evil traits
have been in constant exercise. But he is then to be deprived of his power and left to
reflect upon the part which he has acted since his fall, 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 all the sins that he has caused to be committed.
I heard shouts of triumph
from the angels and from the redeemed saints which sounded like ten thousand musical
instruments, because they were to be no more annoyed and tempted by Satan and because the
inhabitants of other worlds were delivered from his presence and his temptations.
Then I saw thrones, and Jesus
and the redeemed saints sat upon them; and the saints reigned as kings and priests unto
God. Christ, in union with His people, judged the wicked dead, comparing their acts with
the Statute Book, the Word of God, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in
the body. Then they meted out to the wicked the portion which they must suffer, according
to their works; and it was written against their names in the book of death. Satan also
and his angels were judged by Jesus and the saints. Satan's punishment was to be far
greater than that of those whom he had deceived. His suffering would so far exceed theirs
as to bear no comparison with it. After all those whom he had deceived had perished, Satan
was still to live and suffer on much longer.
After the judgment of the
wicked dead had been finished, at the end of the one thousand years, Jesus
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left the city,
and the saints and a train of the angelic host followed Him. Jesus descended upon a great
mountain, which, as soon as His feet touched it, parted asunder and became a mighty plain.
Then we looked up and saw the great and beautiful city, with twelve foundations and twelve
gates, three on each side, and an angel at each gate. We cried out, "The city! the
great city! It is coming down from God out of heaven!" And it came down in all its
splendor and dazzling glory, and settled in the mighty plain which Jesus had prepared for
it.
Copyright © 1974
The Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Preparing For Eternity
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