3814 — During the Thousand Years
By Editor
Will you please explain Isa. 34:11-15? Does not the fire destroy all the animals that live at the coming of Christ, or are there animals on the earth at that time? There seems to be no evidence, when our Lord shall come the second time, that all life on the earth will be destroyed. Human life will. There seems to be no question about that. Not only does Isaiah teach that, but Jer. 4:25 declares, "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man." See also Revelation 19. Of those left on the earth after the great wars which swept over the inhabitable part of the globe had wrought their work, it is said, "The remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse." That is, they will perish in the forthshining of Christ's presence. But there are beasts that remain. The fire is not, then, universal. It is kindled here and there, and the whole earth becomes a desolate wilderness. But Isaiah 34, which clearly seems to use Idumea as a type of that desolate condition, would indicate that there will be wild beasts and birds of prey which will inhabit the earth during that time. It is to these that the call goes forth to come and devour the carcasses of the men upon the earth. See Rev. 19:17, 18. Doubtless the multiplication of these beasts and birds will furnish food for the wicked when they come up at the end of the thousand years for the second resurrection. Then when the glory of God shall appear the second time, the whole sinful earth, with the exception of that place where the city stands, which has been made holy by the feet of the Son of God, will become one great lake of fire. The Scriptures do not say that the lake of fire will begin at the beginning of the thousand years, or at the beginning of the day of the Lord, but it will come in the day of the Lord. And so we read in 2 Peter 3:10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."