THE FINAL DECISION OF HEAVEN EXECUTED.
By J. O. Corliss
THE first thing we read of the saved, after their reception into heaven, is their ascription of praise unto God because of His mighty power to save. Rev. 19:1, 2. In the next place we find them partaking, with Christ, of the marriage supper in the presence of God and the angels. Verses 7–9; Matt. 26:29; 22:2, 11–13. Then they appear in another act of the great drama. During the one thousand years immediately following the coming of Christ, and His reception of the saints to Himself, the earth remains desolate and void,—a veritable “bottomless pit,”—wherein are the wicked dead, who fell down in that condition before the glory of the Lord’s coming (Jer. 4:23–26; 25:31–33), with Satan shut up in their midst. Rev. 20:1–3. At the same time the saints who had suffered martyrdom in all ages for the truth, are seen sitting on thrones of judgment. These are they who came up in the first resurrection, and on whom the second death will have no power. Verses 4–6. To this place and position they are called to examine, and pass judgment on, the cases of the wicked who are to remain dead until the thousand years are ended. Verse 5; 1 Cor. 6:1–3. Those given this important work will have been fitted for it by long service of suffering for Christ’s sake. 2 Tim. 2:3, 9, 11, 12; Luke 22:28–30. They were not permitted to stand in such a place while in the flesh, and moved by human passions; for then they would likely have passed retaliatory judgment on some who had been active in persecuting them. At the proper time, however, when the Lord came and made them immortal, and they were transported to the heavenly atmosphere, then and there the Lord would reveal to them all the hitherto hidden parts of the lives of those whom they are to judge. 1 Cor. 4:5. Even then, the saints are not permitted to pass on the cases before them according to their best judgment; for as their own cases were settled by the standard of the Word of God, so in pronouncing judgment upon others they will simply announce the decisions of the infallible Word of Jehovah. This Word will then still be living and energetic, and sharper than a two-edged sword, to divide asunder the parts of men’s lives, and so discern even the thoughts and intents of their hearts. Heb. 4:12. This is the only two-edged sword permitted to be used by any one in the work of the judgment. Ps. 149:5–9. The conclusions of that time having been rendered upon the wicked according to the infallible Word, at the end of the thousand years Christ joins the saints in returning to the earth to execute the decisions announced while the saints occupied their heavenly thrones of judgment. Jude 14, 15; Rev. 19:11–21. Accordingly the royal city, New Jerusalem, inhabited by the saints, descends to earth, to a spot specially prepared to receive it. Rev. 21:1, 2; Zech. 14:4, 5. The wicked have been raised in the meantime, thus loosing Satan again to influence men, and he deceives the nations with the thought that they may capture the city for their own. Rev. 20:8, 9. By the breath of Christ’s mouth these are then consigned to the second death (Rev. 19:15, 21), and fire falls from God out of heaven and consumes them. Rev. 20:9. But the city of God is preserved in the midst of the fire, as was the ark in the time of the deluge. Isa. 33:10–15. This consuming fire of God continues its work until the last vestige of sin has been removed from the earth. 2 Peter 3:12, 13; Ps. 97:1–5. In this cleansing, the world is reduced to its first chaotic state (Gen. 1:2; Jer. 4:23); but from the ashes of the old world, another, a “new earth,” is to be brought forth, which will so eclipse the old one by its beauty and glory as to shut it forever from every redeemed mind. This re-creation will be the eternal heritage of the saints. Ps. 37:11, 22, 29; Matt. 5:5. But it will not be all of their heritage; the Lord Himself will be forever theirs, and will dwell among them. Rev. 21:3. The former curse will have been removed, so that no tears will be seen, or sorrow known. God will honor His Son’s redemption and restoration of the earth, by making it the place of His throne. The one lost sheep which had been found will then be the cause of far more rejoicing than the ninety and nine which were never lost. Matt. 18:11–13. At that time the whole creation will “rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” The luster of Lebanon and the purity of Sharon will be its portion, as it witnesses the “glory of the Lord,” and the “excellency of our God.” Isa. 35:1–3.