Christ Will
not Descend to Earth
at
His Second Coming
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I think we can agree that if we read all the material of all
those who claim to be prophets at the end-time, we would be occupied FULL
TIME with the investigation of their teachings. So I will tell you what I do.
I read until I find definite error that contradicts either/or the Bible and
the Spirit of Prophecy, and teachings that would support Satan's cause at the
end-time. Here is a classic example of what I am saying. The following
quote by Dumitru Duduman is found at the following link: "When Israel realizes she does not have the strength of
America behind her, she will be frightened. That's when she will turn to the
Messiah for deliverance. That's when the Messiah will come. Then, the church
will meet Jesus in the air, and He will bring them back with Him to the Mount
of Olives. At that time the battle of Armageddon will be fought." Ron's Commentary: It took me about five minutes reading of
Duduman to discover serious error in his writings. But I knew before reading
him at all that he did not fulfill the conditions of Isaiah 8:20 because he
was not a Sabbath keeper! The above statement by Duduman is gross error which
supports Satan's cause at the end. The church will meet Jesus in the air, but
HE WILL NOT BRING THEM BACK WITH HIM TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, at which time
the battle of Armageddon will be fought. Ellen White says that we will be
caught up to Jesus, spend 7 days ascending to heaven, and that the difference
between Satan's impersonation of Christ and the actual Christ Jesus, is that
Satan will touch down on this earth and Jesus will not. Obviously, Dumitru
Duduman is speaking contrary to the Testimony of Jesus Christ via Ellen
White. This one gross error will serve Satan's cause by convincing folk that
Satan is Jesus returning to this earth BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM. It is after the
Millennium that Jesus brings us back to a renewed earth and establishes a
kingdom here. "Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah,"
he said, "whose hands and feet were pierced, who was brought like a lamb
to the slaughter, who was the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, who
after the scepter was taken from Judah, and the legislative power from
between his feet, came the first time; shall come the second time in the
clouds of heaven, and with the trump of the Archangel" (Joseph Wolff,
Researches and Missionary Labors, page 62) "and shall stand upon the Mount of Olives; and that
dominion, once consigned to Adam over the creation, and forfeited by him
(Genesis 1:26; 3:17), shall be given to Jesus. He shall be king over all the earth. The groanings
and lamentations of the creation shall cease, but songs of praises and
thanksgivings shall be heard. ... When Jesus comes in the glory of His
Father, with the holy angels,... the dead believers shall rise first. 1
Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:32. This is what we Christians call the
first resurrection. Then the animal kingdom shall change its nature (Isaiah
11:6-9), and be subdued unto Jesus. Psalm 8. Universal peace shall
prevail."--Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, pages 378, 379. "The
Lord again shall look down upon the earth, and say, 'Behold, it is very
good.'"-- Ibid., page 294. {GC 359.1} Somehow, Wolff's error crept into Desire of Ages, to
wit: "In the garden of Gethsemane at its foot He had prayed and
agonized alone. From this mountain He was to ascend to heaven. Upon its
summit His feet will rest when He shall come again. Not as a man of sorrows,
but as a glorious and triumphant king He will stand upon Olivet, while Hebrew
hallelujahs mingle with Gentile hosannas, and the voiced of the redeemed as a
mighty host shall swell the acclamation, Crown Him Lord of all!" Desire
of Ages, 830. The above statement is quoting Joseph Wolff, and
unfortunately, the words "and shall stand upon the Mount of Olives"
is error. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of
command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are
alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18
Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1Thess. 4:16, 17. What About the Second Coming of Jesus? (Click)
(Lesson 16) - Bible Basics ... Just as His first coming included various events
-- birth in Bethlehem, Baptism, ... The phase of the second coming
of Christ described in (a) above is referred to ... He does
not touch the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). ...
Saints come down with Him (Jude 14). He stands on the Mt. of Olives
(Zechariah 14:1-4). ... The SDA Bible Commentary on 1 Thessalonians
4:18-18 and Zechariah 14:1-4 (above) “1. Behold. Chapter 14 is
a description of events in connection with the second coming of the Messiah
in terms of how this spectacular event would have come about if the
Israelites who returned from captivity had fulfilled their destiny (see p.
30). Inasmuch as they turned again and again from their high privileges and
ultimately rejected the Messiah (Acts 3:13-15), God turned from them. He is
now accomplishing His purposes through the Christian church (see pp. 35, 36).
Care must be exercised when applying the prophecies of Zech. 14 to our day.
The principles outlined on pp. 25-38 must be carefully observed in the
interpretation of Zech. 14 or else unwarranted conclusions may be drawn. See
also on Eze. 38:1. “4. Mount of Olives.
See on Matt. 21:1. Shall cleave. Verses
4, 5 describe violent physical changes in the earth’s surface to accompany
the divine intervention to destroy the enemy nations. The detailed picture is
in terms of how these events would have worked out if Jeruisalem had stood
forever (see PK 46, 564; DA 577; see on v. 1). Certain features will now be
fulfilled at the time the New Jerusalem makes it descent at the end of the
millennium. However, not all the details must be so applied. (See GC 663).” Chap.
349 - Victory Over Death [From the book God's Amazing Grace]
The voice of the Son of God calls
forth the sleeping saints. . . . From the prison house of death they come,
clothed with immortal glory, crying: "O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. 15:55). . . . {AG 357.2} The Living righteous are changed
"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they
were glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are
caught up to meet their Lord in the air. . . . {AG 357.3} Before entering the City of God, the
Saviour bestows upon His followers the emblems of victory and invests them
with the insignia of their royal state. . . . Upon the heads of the
overcomers, Jesus with His own right hand places the crown of glory. For each
there is a crown, bearing his own "new name," and the inscription,
"Holiness to the Lord." In every hand are placed in the victor's
palm and the shining harp. Then, as the commanding angels strike the note,
every hand sweeps the harp strings with skillful touch, awaking sweet music
in rich, melodious strains. Rapture unutterable thrills every heart, and each
voice is raised in grateful praise. . . . {AG 357.4} Before the ransomed throng is the
Holy City. Jesus opens wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept
the truth enter in. . . . Then that voice, richer than any music that ever
fell on mortal ear, is heard, saying: "Your conflict is ended."
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). {AG 357.5} Now is fulfilled the Saviour's prayer
for His disciples, "I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be
with me where I am" (John 17:24). "Faultless before the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24), Christ presents to the Father
the purchase of His blood. . . . Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! The
rapture of that hour when the infinite Father, looking upon the ransomed,
shall behold His image. . . ! {AG 357.6} The promise of Christ's second coming
was ever to be kept fresh in the minds of His disciples. The same Jesus whom
they had seen ascending into heaven, would come again, to take to Himself
those who here below give themselves to His service. The same voice that had
said to them, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end," would
bid them welcome to His presence in the heavenly kingdom. {AA 33.2} As in the typical service the high
priest laid aside his pontifical robes and officiated in the white linen
dress of an ordinary priest; so Christ laid aside His royal robes and garbed
Himself with humanity and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the
victim. As the high priest, after performing his service in the holy of
holies, came forth to the waiting congregation in his pontifical robes; so
Christ will come the second time, clothed in garments of whitest white,
"so as no fuller on earth can white them." Mark 9:3. He will come
in His own glory, and in the glory of His Father, and all the angelic host
will escort Him on His way. {AA 33.3} Thus will be fulfilled Christ's
promise to His disciples, "I will come again, and receive you unto
Myself." John 14:3. Those who have loved Him and waited for Him, He will
crown with glory and honor and immortality. The righteous dead will come
forth from their graves, and those who are alive will be caught up with them to meet the
Lord in the air. They will hear the voice of Jesus, sweeter than any music that
ever fell on mortal ear, saying to them, Your warfare is accomplished. "Come, ye
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world." Matthew 25:34. {AA 34.1} Well might the disciples rejoice in
the hope of their Lord's return. {AA 34.2} "The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent away 'unto
a land not inhabited' (Leviticus 16:22) so Satan, bearing the guilt of all
the sins which he has caused God's people to commit, will be for a thousand
years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without inhabitant,
and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall
destroy all the wicked." The Great Controversy, p. 485. God's word says that the cities will be destroyed. This admonition is
without the accompaniment of Duduman's error: 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. {GC 659.2} http://www.indisputable.org/?topic=encore Jesus does not touch the earth upon
this return to earth.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16,17). The saints meet Jesus "in the air," and from there they
ascend to heaven. This is why Jesus warned people to ignore any reports that He had
returned and was somewhere on the earth. False Christs will appear and do
miracles on the earth (Matt. 24:23-27), but Jesus will remain in the clouds
above the earth at His second coming. The second coming of Jesus Christ
will leave the world desolate and uninhabited by human beings.
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there
was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
mighty an earthquake, and so great. And every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found" (Rev. 16:18,20). "I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all
the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his
fierce anger" (Jer. 4:26). "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" (Isa. 24:1,3). The scenario of Biblical prophecy
believed by most Christians and put forth in literature such as the the Left
Behind series of books cannot be demonstrated from the Bible.
The popular teaching is based on futurism, a viewpoint of prophecy
developed by the Catholic Church to oppose the truths coming from the
protestant reformation (a time when many Christians were discovering the truths
taught in the Bible were diametrically opposed to what was coming out of the
church's pulpits). I'm not going to get into the different views of Biblical
prophecy here, but there is tons of research available on the 'net and in
your library. Pray that God will guide you through this study. He will not
let you go astray. A starting point: The Origin of Futurism
and Preterism. Desolation
of the Earth
The
Great Controversy, pp. 653-661
"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. 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 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 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 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. 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.] 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. 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 of 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 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.” The Great Controversy, pp. 653-661. |